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April Shprintz: The Life-Changing Power of Generosity · The Daily Writer

0:04
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Rider.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: Each weekday, we bring you a short lesson that helps you live out the four practices of a great writer creativity, consistency, courage, and connection.
0:16
SPEAKER_02: Here on the weekend edition, we take a deeper dive into those topics through conversations with writers as well as teaching that helps us apply what we're learning.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
0:29
SPEAKER_02: The main topic of this podcast focuses on mindset and habits related to writing.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: However, a crucial element of our success in life and in writing is generosity.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: You can have the greatest writing skills in the world, but without good relationships as well as a giving spirit, it really doesn't mean much.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: That's why I'm really excited to have April Sprintz as my guest today.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: She has spent over two decades driving growth for companies in a way that creates immense value for their employees, their customers, and their communities.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: A former Air Force noncommissioned officer serving as a broadcast journalist for the American Forces Network, she went on to specialize in sales, operations, and marketing, supporting Fortune 500 clients and generating over$1 billion in combined additional revenue for the companies she served.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: Three and a half years ago, after her highest earning seven-figure year in the corporate world, April left to start her firm, Driven Outcomes, helping companies around the globe accelerate their businesses.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: April helps them make their impossible possible using the principles of what she calls the generosity culture as she shows company leadership how to pour into their people.
1:46
SPEAKER_02: April is also the author of the recent book Magic Blue Rocks, which is a very fun read about principles for personal success.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: She's also the host of the Pouring Into Your Business podcast.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: April's website is drivenoutcomes.com.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, if that intro is a mouthful, that's because April is amazing and awesome and has so much to offer in terms of insights about success, generosity, and personal growth.
2:12
SPEAKER_02: And I am thrilled to have her on the show today.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: In this conversation, April shares some fantastic ideas about how writers can be more generous, what generosity looks like in the world of client work, how to be generous while also being profitable.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: And also this question, which I loved what about introverted writers?
2:30
SPEAKER_02: How can we be more generous and relationship oriented, even if we sometimes get drained by people?
2:36
SPEAKER_02: That's something we also address in this conversation.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: So this is a lot of fun.
2:40
SPEAKER_02: You're going to learn a ton from April.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: She's so fun and so fantastic.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: So let's get right to the interview with my friend April Sprints.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: April, thanks so much for being on the Daily Writer Podcast.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: I am thrilled that you were able to join us today, and I'm excited about diving into this whole topic of generosity, which we all need so, so much.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: So thank you again for making time to do the show.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's my pleasure.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
3:05
SPEAKER_02: Well, I want to start out by saying, I guess acknowledging, first of all, that I really, really love your book, Magic Blue Rocks.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: This is a great read.
3:14
SPEAKER_02: It is engaging.
3:16
SPEAKER_02: At times it's funny, it's heartwarming.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it made me tear up more than once.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: So the very first thing I want to say is congrats on writing a truly amazing book.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: That is a massive accomplishment.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: So thank you for putting that in, putting that out into the world.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: I will tell you that it was a surprising thing.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't planning to write a book this past year.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: It just sort of happened.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: And I was pleasantly surprised that I can write.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: You can write.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: You can, you can more than write.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: You can write extremely well.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: I think some of the magic there, as anyone that you talk to about writing will tell you, is in the editing.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: I say this a little tongue-in-cheek, but I also mean it wholeheartedly.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: The book got really good after edit three.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Before then, meh.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: Now let me dive into that a little bit.
4:07
SPEAKER_02: And I was going to ask you about this anyway, but since we're on this topic, can you talk about the process of actually writing the book?
4:13
SPEAKER_02: Like how long did it take you to do a first draft?
4:16
SPEAKER_02: Then how long was the second and third round of editing?
4:18
SPEAKER_02: Kind of walk us through your process and the timeline for doing this because I think this will be really helpful for listeners who are working on their own books.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: No, sure.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want to say is a disclaimer in that I am weird and I do things differently than other people.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: So when I decided I wanted to write a book, I decided I would write it this week.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: So I love that.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: And I think after chapter two, which for me was a really emotional chapter, I had to take a day off because I poured a lot of myself into it, but I still went through and did it in a week.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: I think it took me because I did the math afterwards, like the geek that I am.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: And it took me about an hour for every thousand words.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's actually really fast.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Is it?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, so here's what I think though, because I thought about this.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: I think that when you're writing stories and and the book is about mindset, but it's based on lessons I learned in my own life.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really going back in my memory and rewriting things that happened.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: I think that's easier, Kent, than creating a story.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
5:34
SPEAKER_00: It does make sense.
5:35
SPEAKER_02: It makes total sense.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: It's a little, it's a little more there.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: It's already in your mind and it's crafted.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: You're just trying to express it in the same kind of vivid way you remember it.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: So that was my original edit.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: And then what I did, because I had not written before, other than I'm a former broadcaster, I used to write television and radio scripts, but that's a different kind of writing.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: I had a friend that was a broadcaster with me who has since gone on to do a lot of editing work and different things like that for different government agencies who I had her do an initial like rough edit before I would even send it to my editor because I was, I was scared and embarrassed and embarrassed because I know that I'm long-winded.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: I know that I tend to back into sentences instead of writing them as clear and concisely as I could.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: So that to me, that kind of safety net really helped me quite a bit because she's a friend.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: I trust her.
6:34
SPEAKER_00: If she said something sucked, it wouldn't hurt my feelings.
6:36
SPEAKER_00: I would know she was doing it from a place of love.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So doing that before I sent it on to the editor was really a godsend for me.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
6:46
SPEAKER_02: I I love that idea of getting feedback immediately from someone, but also not taking it personally.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: And that is something that I think is so difficult for anyone doing creative work, particularly writing, because we're so emotionally tied to our writing, especially in a case like yours where you're telling your your story, um, getting very, very personal about things with your family and so forth.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: So, how did how do you maintain that emotional distance from what you're writing?
7:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, you it's it's a very personal story, but at the same time, you're you're looking at this as a product that has to be crafted and sculpted and so forth.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: How do you maintain that emotional distance in this process?
7:30
SPEAKER_00: I didn't at all.
7:32
SPEAKER_00: I never had any thought of emotional distance or or even crafting it as a product.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: So I this might help you better understand where the whole genesis of the book, how it happened and what have you.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: I posted a video that was about my, it's actually on my book website now on magicbluerocks.com, where you get to see the house I grew up in when I found out how poor I was as a little kid.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: And I had posted that video on LinkedIn to tell people, you know what, you are not your circumstances.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: You are your possibilities.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: You are whatever you want to be.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'd gone back there when I was doing some interviews with Aunt Sue for my speaker videos.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Aunt Sue, for folks that obviously have not read the book, is a woman who really just changed my life by taking an interest in me.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: And we're not related, but she's become an honorary aunt.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: But so I stopped by that childhood home and just filmed that quick little video.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And I had someone reach out to me that I didn't know well, who is a who was a friend of a friend who's become a very good friend who is huge in boxing promotion.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: So, like the things that come out on Fox Sports or the huge fights that you see on HBO and Showtime, that's his stuff.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: He's doing that.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: And he trained under Don King.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: And super interesting gentleman, super cool, just a really inspiring gentleman.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: And he said to me, It was like, April, people need to hear your stories.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: That little clip, that's just part of it.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: I you need to get it out there as quick as you can and just put it out there into the world.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: And for whatever reason, he inspired me in that moment to share those stories.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow, what if I can share this?
9:16
SPEAKER_00: And the same way that Aunt Sue made me feel like I could do anything that I thought I could do.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: What if I can do that for anybody and everybody who has the time to read these stories?
9:29
SPEAKER_00: So there was actually probably less distance than anyone would ever think of because I wanted people to feel my belief and my love through those words.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: So I had to be super close to it.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: It was a very vulnerable place to be.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I laughed and I cried, and it was my story.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: Like I knew what was gonna happen.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: But that was the only way that I could pour into it what I wanted so that people who might not have that one true believer in their life felt like they did and can have one in me.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad that you mentioned uh this character in the story.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: Of course, this is a real person as well, Aunt Sue.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Now, for those who have not read the book, can you give us a gist of what role she played in your life and take us back to that moment when she came into your home as a child and and yeah, absolutely?
10:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna point, I'm pausing because I'm I really wanted to tell people just go read the book because you're gonna give the full story there.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: But take us back to that moment, and what did she give you in that moment that was such a critical thing for your future success?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: So I came home from school one day, and when I walked into our home, something was really off, right?
10:47
SPEAKER_00: It was dark, all of the blinds were pulled, it smelled awful.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: It just felt like something bad was gonna happen.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: And I walked into the house and I see Sue, who is this, she's very regal, five foot nine, five foot ten, very tall, very well dressed, very professional.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: At this time, she was in her early 50s, she looked amazing, and all I thought was nobody that looks like that comes to your house for a good reason.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: They just don't, right?
11:17
SPEAKER_00: But she looked amazing, and and she just I don't even know how to describe how much she didn't fit in the scene because the house was kind of a little like a hurricane, even though it's normally meticulously clean.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: My mom is over on the sofa crying, like it's it's a bad thing.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm nine years old and I'm looking at this woman thinking, what is going on?
11:38
SPEAKER_00: And she'd come to our home because my mother had hit a breaking point with her alcoholism, and she had had problems at work and they had self-identified because she'd missed so much work.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm an alcoholic.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Okay, well, you have the option to go to rehab, or we're gonna have to let you go.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I I don't think my mom would have gone to rehab otherwise, but she did.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: And Sue made this amazing choice.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: She came to our home because she knew my mom had a little girl, and she wanted to be there for that child when they found out all of these things were happening.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you're gonna go live with a relative, your mom's gonna be gone for 30 days, all of these things.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: And the thing that she did that was so incredibly powerful, but beyond that kindness, right?
12:27
SPEAKER_00: Because she didn't have to do that, she could have sent any low-level employee.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: She was the head of human resources for a large company.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And she came there and then she said to me as we're talking, and she's explaining what's going on and all of these things, April, you're special.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: You're going to be able to do amazing things.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: And I want to be your friend.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: And what's amazing to me, and I'm tearing up as I say this, this is this life-changing moment for me, right?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Somebody believes in me, someone who I know is successful, who's unlike anyone else that I know in my life.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: She believes in me.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, what does that mean?
13:06
SPEAKER_00: That's so amazing.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: Now, fast forward to today and it actually about a year ago before COVID started.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: I went with a production team and interviewed Aunt Sue at then 88 years old, now she's 89, and said, Wow, you know, what made you change my life like that?
13:26
SPEAKER_00: And she says to me, I I offered that to everyone, but you took me up on it.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So for her, it was just a Tuesday.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: This was just who she was, and she changed my life because I grabbed on to that belief.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: I grabbed on to that offer of friendship.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: And it it not only changed the course of my life as a young girl and what I was willing to go for and think I could achieve and change in my own life, you know, be the first person to graduate high school and go to college in my family, be the first person to have a great career and those sorts of things.
14:04
SPEAKER_00: But even more importantly, be someone like Aunt Sue who would pour into someone else just because that felt right.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: That is such a powerful story.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: I loved that.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: And I I want to encourage everybody to get the book because you tell a lot more stories that are equally as powerful.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, one of my favorite stories from the book is when you talk about uh selling Avon as a uh as a little girl who I think if I'm quoting this correctly, you said, I just turned 13 last month.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when I saw yeah, when I signed up, I was 12.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: By the time I went to the district sales meeting, I was 13, which I was very happy about because a 13-year-old selling Avon made complete sense to me.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: 12-year-old sounded kind of weird.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, at 13, you're officially a teenager.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: I guess that makes some kind of a difference.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: I was so grown in my own mind.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: I was so grown.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: One of the things that that we can do as writers and as content creators and as leaders is we can do the same thing for other people.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: How can so for those who are listening who are they're doing blogs, they're doing podcasts, they're writing books, they're writing articles and other kinds of things.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: What are some ways that we can be an aunt Sue in other people's lives through our writing?
15:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think that it is easy as a writer, this the same way it was easy for me when I was in the service and I had a radio show early in the morning as a DJ, to forget that there are people reading your work, to forget that there are people listening, and to forget that what comes so easily for you, because you are an artist, you are a writer, you are someone who can do these amazing things, that to someone else, that is just absolute genius.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: So I think the kindest thing that we can do is to share that genius, whatever it may be, with the world.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: And if you're like, I don't have any genius, uh, that's great, April, but what is it?
16:09
SPEAKER_00: You do have genius, you take it for granted because you're you.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: So here's how you know what your genius is.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: So you know what to share with the world.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: There is something that you say, do, be, act that to you is no big thing.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: But every time you say it or do it or are it around other people, they go, Wow, I never thought about it that way.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Or oh man, that's so neat.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: You have to pay attention to the feedback from others because it is so natural to you, you don't realize how special it is.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: That is really, really powerful.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: So there is a sense in which we can't really rely on our own perspective or our own sense of confidence or intuition.
16:56
SPEAKER_02: We we have to rely on what other people are are giving back to us in the world.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: Is is that kind of what I'm hearing?
17:02
SPEAKER_00: A little, unless you already know what it is.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't know what my area of genius was until I got a little older.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: And then there's nothing someone could say to me to make me think that I don't have it.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And and that genius is I can see what is possible for people, for companies, whatever, uh a house that you buy and renovate, I can just see it, even when other people can't.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And I've been blessed because I've never been wrong about it.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: It has always been able to come to fruition.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: But let's say, for example, you were Einstein, right?
17:34
SPEAKER_00: You might miss how ingenious your ideas and thoughts are until someone else reflects them back to you.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: Because in the same voice, you hear, oh, I'm hungry.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I forgot to put that in the mail.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know what?
17:50
SPEAKER_00: I think the dog just went potty on the floor.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: So your genius thoughts are mixed up with all your internal dialogue, which, if we're really candid with ourselves, our internal dialogue is not as positive and uplifting as we would want it to be.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: So our genius can just get mixed up in there and not be paid attention to.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Boy, that is so true.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: That that internal dialogue sometimes is so destructive, especially, you know, in the past year, a lot of people have dealt with a lot of really difficult things.
18:19
SPEAKER_02: What are some ways that you have found that are helpful to have a better internal dialogue with yourself?
18:24
SPEAKER_02: I guess, and I guess what I'm asking is how do you get rid of those negative voices sometimes in your heart or in your head that are telling you you're not gifted, you don't have anything of value to add, this is all just a pipe dream, and all those things that we say to ourselves that can really get us off course.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: That's a great question.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: So, a lot of the work that I do in my business, even though everyone thinks it has to do with business, and business is, it actually has to do with mindset.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think your mindset controls the way that you talk to yourself.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: So for me, one of the things I do that is so simple, but I do it every day, it takes 30 seconds, but it changes the way that I see everything, including myself.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Now, candidly, most people are harder on themselves than anything else.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: But if you can elevate the way you think about everything, that includes the way you think about you.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: So in the first 30 seconds that I wake up before I grab my phone, before I get up and brush my teeth, before I do anything, I take 30 seconds to think about the things I appreciate about my life, about the area around me.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean is it doesn't have to be big, huge.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I appreciate my family.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I appreciate the wonderful things that I have in my job or whatever.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: There are many days where it's like, I so appreciate that cowboy, who is my shitsu, is so warm and cuddly.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: It's such a good way to wake up.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: I love this pillow, this is amazing.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: And I say appreciate instead of gratitude, and it's a little bit of semantics and splitting hairs, but hey, we're talking to writers, so you guys know the power of words.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate is only focusing on the the great part of something.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when you're grateful, you're grateful you didn't wreck your car.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: So you're still actually thinking about a wreck of your car instead of I'm grateful I'm safe and sound.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: Right.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: So people don't always focus on the best part when they use that word.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: That's something that you really have to train your mind to do.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: So it's easier if you say, I appreciate this, I love this.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's so great about doing that, if you do it first thing in the morning, you create a momentum that will carry you throughout your day.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: And the more you do that, the more you stop and appreciate things, the kinder you are to everything and everyone, and that includes you.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I start there, which might seem kind of weird when you're talking about self-talk, is for most of us, depending on how old we are, subtract, call it two years from your age, and you've been talking to yourself that way for that many years.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: It is easier to reverse that habit in a roundabout way and change the way you think about everything than it is to immediately try and be kinder to yourself.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: Boy, that's powerful.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: That's really, really powerful.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: That there's a guest I had on a few weeks ago.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: His name is Jeffrey Shaw.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you're if you're familiar with him, but we were talking about a very similar practice, and and his is very similar to yours.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: What he does is he says, uh, he wakes up in the morning and he makes a list of what's going right.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: The exact same thing focusing on the positive.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, whoa, I so you you both have said basically the same thing, and I'm going, wow, I need to start practicing this in my own life.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: This is great.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: 30 days in your life will be completely different, Kent, whether you do his exercise or my exercise.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: And the one thing that I'll say.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Because when people talk about, oh, you have to have a positive mindset, you have to think about positive things.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes if a pessimist or a realist is hearing those things, and by the way, most pessimists think they are realists.
22:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a that's a good point.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: They feel like I can't do that.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm not positive.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm not bubbly and whatever.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Totally get that.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: So don't think of it as having a positive mindset.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: Think of it as having a mindset that works for you instead of against you.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: So even with your list, right, where you're listing positive things, you could list things that are working out for you.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: So that you can put it in whatever frame you need that feels comfortable to you.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: But something that is super important to me is that those folks that are more pragmatic, that are realists, that do see where there's more risk, that they don't feel like they're left out of the equation.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: They don't have to become Pollyanna in order to reap the benefits of having a mindset that works for them.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: Do you think there's an element?
23:12
SPEAKER_02: And this is a very fine line.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: And I'm intrigued by this idea of pessimist versus pragmatic person versus realist, because there's such a fine line between those things.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: And how do you feel about this idea?
23:25
SPEAKER_02: And I guess this goes back to Steve Jobs in a way, that at least that's what comes up in my mind.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: This idea of, you know, Steve Jobs, people people would say that he didn't live in reality and that he had what what some of his coworkers call the reality distortion field, I think is what the way they framed it.
23:41
SPEAKER_02: This idea, this idea that what's realistic doesn't really matter, it's what is possible.
23:46
SPEAKER_02: It's here's what I see, here's my vision, here's what is possible.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: But so many times we we relegate our lives to, well, here's what is probably realistic, here's what is maybe doable.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: How have and you've you've accomplished so many things in your life.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: How many or how how have you been able to lift yourself up out of that realm of here's what's or here's what's realistic versus here's what's doable, here's what's possible, here's what can be if I just decide I'm gonna do it and then go for it.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: So when you talk about Steve Jobs and the reality distortion field, and that's not realistic, here's here's what comes to mind for me, and this might give you insight into how I dealt with it.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: When you say, well, here's what's realistic, and the first thing that pops in my mind, Kent, is says who?
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Who decide that?
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Good point.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I believe them.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they weren't as smart as me.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they weren't as capable as me.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were having a bad day.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: So I've never bought into that.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: Even at a really young age, I had people that surrounded me say, you know, people like us don't go to college.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: And in my head, I was like, I'm not like you because I'm going to college.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: Like it there was always that kind of fierce, if I think I can do it, yes, I can.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: And it comes from a fundamental belief that I have that is things that you that are not possible for you do not occur to you.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: You don't think of them.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: And here's what I mean.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Never once in my entire life, Kent, have I wanted to be an astronaut or thought what it would be like.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: Never once.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you dive into who I am as a person in my background, I don't really like science that much unless you're talking neuroscience of the brain.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Math is not my best friend unless you're talking PL or helping people with revenue and numbers.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: You get into calculus and the really complicated math, I'm bored.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: So isn't it interesting that I don't want to do something that if you dig in further, I don't really have the skill set for anyway.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: Right?
25:50
SPEAKER_02: Good point.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: The more you think about that, the more it starts to be like, oh my gosh.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: I bet you probably only do think of things you could actually do.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And wow, where is the possibility in that?
26:07
SPEAKER_00: What if, and I'm saying what if for the folks who are like, this is crazy, I can't believe this because I believe this wholeheartedly and I live this way.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: But what if every wild and crazy dream you've ever had is absolutely possible?
26:22
SPEAKER_00: You just gotta figure out how.
26:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you one more question uh as we start to wind this down.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: So I'm asking this question on behalf of those who are listening who do freelance work, they do client work and so forth.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: So you talk a lot about generosity, and I love that value because it's such a critical value in our lives and in the world today.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: How do we balance this idea of being generous, of putting our generosity out into the world with charging what we're worth and charging what our services should be valued at?
27:00
SPEAKER_02: Like how do you how do you think about that from the perspective of I want to be generous, which obviously means giving, but I also want to charge appropriate rates for my services, whatever those might be.
27:11
SPEAKER_02: How do you think about that?
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Well, they go hand in hand.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: And candidly, you are in a much better place to be generous and pour into others if you are charging rates that are commensurate with your value.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: So what I share with people is look, there's intrinsic value in what you're offering.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And the right client base is absolutely going to be willing to pay for that.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: So I encourage folks to charge a premium for their services, but to offer more value than they're charging for.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: And that's how you're generous.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: And then, and this is especially for freelancers and folks that are doing work where you can get in a position of trading time for money, which I don't think feels good to anyone.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: When you are charging a premium for your time, you then have more time to do whatever it is that you want.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: And in my case, what I do with that extra time is I choose to give my services to the people who absolutely need them and deserve them, but aren't in a position to get those those services for some reason or another.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: Now, I won't do that for everyone because I need them to show up.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people will only show up in a commiserate level to what they have paid.
28:35
SPEAKER_02: That makes a lot of sense.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: Well, there's a lot to lot to unpack there, I think, for people doing client work because so much of our psychology plays into this about what we think we're worth, how much to charge, and you know, that's probably a whole podcast episode in itself.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Totally is, and people need that.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: So you need that one.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh, but I I was hoping that you would say exactly what you did, which is the idea of whenever you charge what you're worth, that allows you to be more generous.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: If you're always, you know, scraping the bottom of the barrel and you're always going, it's like a race toward the bottom.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: If you're always in that mindset, then you don't have any extra time, you're always stressed out, and you can't help other people financially or otherwise because you don't have anything to give.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, and here's the thing: if you charge the bottom of the barrel pricing, you do not attract clients you want to work with.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Because they're not valuing what you're giving them.
29:30
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: People pay for value.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: And I actually have an episode on YouTube of Business Advice on the Go.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: It's the one with Sandy Lomac.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: She has a beauty, uh, beauty fetish, a uh an eyelash business, which there's a lot of money in that, although people wouldn't necessarily think so.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: But what was so funny is she had problems with pricing.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: And she said, I just always felt like I had to be the cheapest.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No, no, no, no, no.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to be the cheapest.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: We want to be the best value.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: There is a huge difference.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
30:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna have to look that up.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: April, this has been an absolute blast.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: You are such a fount of wisdom and inspiration and encouragement.
30:11
SPEAKER_02: I just really appreciate you making time to be on the show today.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it has been my pleasure.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: I've really enjoyed talking to you, Kent, and I love what you're doing to support writers because I think think they are so vitally important to all of us.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you so much.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: Uh, one final question.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: How can listeners find out more about your work, your book, and all the cool things that you're doing?
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh, simple, you can go to my website, which is drivenoutcomes.com.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: And if you would like to connect with me on any of the social channels, I am the only April Sprints in the United States.
30:40
SPEAKER_02: So that's me.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: That's actually really cool because you're not fighting with anybody else over social media hands.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: User names and all that stuff.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, no one can spell my last name, but once they can, they know it's me.
30:52
SPEAKER_02: See, that's interesting.
30:53
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's that hard to spell.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you say Sprints, it just to me it sounds pretty.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's pretty obvious how you would spell it.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: I think people feel like it has too many consonants and not enough vowels.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's true.
31:05
SPEAKER_02: You have one vowel, so but that that's okay.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: It that means it's a very special vowel.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks again, April.
31:13
SPEAKER_02: This has been an absolute blast.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation.
31:19
SPEAKER_02: It was an absolute blast, and I learned a ton.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: And this is one of those episodes where it's honestly hard to just talk about one takeaway because there were so many great insights that April shared.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: But I'm going to focus on this takeaway.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: And it is simply the importance of generosity.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: We can reduce generosity now to specific actions, and those are helpful, but generosity is much more than about just a specific set of actions or things that we do.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: It really has to come from your heart.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: So I would encourage you to ask yourself: do you really have the heart to serve people and be generous?
31:55
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe in abundance?
31:57
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe that if you give, it will come back to you?
32:00
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe there's enough to go around?
32:02
SPEAKER_02: Do you believe you have something wonderful to offer to the world in the first place?
32:07
SPEAKER_02: Well, those are the kinds of questions that help us get to the heart of generosity.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: And this conversation with April has really sparked my thinking and my imagination about the ways that I can be more generous in my life as well as in my business.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, I want to give a huge thank you to our special guest, April Sprints.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Again, make sure to check out her website, which is drivenoutcomes.com.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: Hey, thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
32:32
SPEAKER_02: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.