My second book, Selling Your Expertise, just launched last month (April 2022), and to date, completing this book project has been one of my most challenging ordeals. As with all tough experiences, it pushed me to grow and be better than I was before. I thought you might find some of my hard-earned lessons helpful as you tackle your ambitious projects.
When writing this second book, I applied the lessons learned from writing my first book, The Dreams to Reality Fieldbook. I was expecting the unexpected to derail my writing and built in buffer time to manage that (unfortunately, I underestimated how much buffer time I needed). I knew I would need to "just get started" every day and overcome the myriad of great reasons for not starting. I also understood the importance of setting a goal and breaking it down into smaller pieces. Despite being equipped with these lessons learned, I still struggled with writing this second book since it differed from the first one in a few ways. The first book was self-published and this second book was published by Wiley, a well-known publisher. The first book was written mainly from my point of view. The second book had firsthand interviews and cited a number of research studies. The first book was 74 pages. The second book came out to 336 pages.
Writing this book was definitely a challenge, and at times, I felt like a rubber band stretched to the point of snapping. Luckily, I was able to hold it together, and came away with the following insights:
Persistence comes from knowing your Why.
Writing a book is tough. You have to keep track of what you wrote. You have to make sure you're making sense to someone who may not know what you know. You have to cut content that you feel is important. You question whether what you've written is any good, or if you're really in a position to be writing the book in the first place. There were many instances where it seemed easier and better just to call it quits. I was running a business, managing a family, teaching at a university, and volunteering for important causes. No one would fault me for taking one thing off my plate. The main thing that kept me going was my reason for writing this book: To help people who are inadvertently limiting their potential by shying away from sales or approaching it in a haphazard way. Having a why that is in service to others helped me to keep going. I've found that it's hard to keep going if your ambitious goal just serves you since it's easier to call it quits once things become very difficult for you.
Writing is a great way to learn.
I thought I was knowledgeable about sales and business development. That's why I decided to write the book. The process of putting my thoughts on paper and making sure all the pieces fit together without redundancy further crystallized and deepened my thinking. Being constrained on the number of words I could use also helped. Writing something down with the intention for someone else to understand it focuses you on challenging your own thinking and assumptions. You have to assess whether what you believe is actually true, or else the entire idea falls apart. In the words of Paul Graham, "Writing about something, even something you know well, usually shows you that you didn't know it as well as you thought."
Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.
There were so many people who helped me along the way to complete this book project. Whether it was introducing me to my senior-level interviewees, improving my writing, or watching my kids during a marathon-writing weekend, this book would not be what it is if I decided to go with my initial gut reaction to go it alone. When writing a book, it's so easy to feel like you need to prove yourself by doing it alone or to believe the work is not truly yours if other people help you, but much of that thinking focuses on you, and not how you can best serve others. If you focus on how you'll contribute value to others, you'll naturally recognize that you'll want all the help you can get to best serve others. If you compare the first draft of this book to the final version, you would clearly see the power of asking for help.
Being happy with your work (at this point in time) and letting go is critical.
When I re-read my first book, I was slightly embarrassed. The black-and-white thinking, the unbridled enthusiasm, the self-focused tone. Yet, at that time, that book was my best work (I'm still proud of some of the ideas in there). If I had kept waiting for it to be a better book, I would have never released it to the world, and I likely wouldn't have written this second book. Part of any ambitious work is that you can always make it better, but at some point, you just have to put it out there so you can get real-world feedback. At the same time, it's important to recognize that just getting to this point of being able to ship has already changed you for the better. When it comes to writing, often the destination is secondary to the journey, and it's only when you stop to reflect that you realize how much you've grown from the experience.
Recognizing what is within your control and what isn't will help you focus on the right things.
Now that Selling Your Expertise has launched, I'm focused on getting the book's insights to people who might most benefit from them. That means speaking about the book on podcasts and at companies, trade association events, and industry conferences. What I'm not doing is tracking book sales since knowing how many books I've sold doesn't really help to raise the book's visibility. If anything, it'll likely distract me from my real work - talking about the book. Once book reviews come in, I plan to read them to better understand which ideas need more work and which ones are resonating (If you've purchased a book, please consider writing an Amazon review). Like my first book, some people will find it valuable and some will not. My goal is to figure out who will be better off with this knowledge and get the book in front of them. My other goal is not to worry about anything outside of my control.
I hope these lessons can be helpful to you as you plan to write a book or tackle an ambitious goal that has true meaning for you. If you enjoyed these tips, you may want to check out the 10 books I wished I read earlier in life or the top 10 insights that have changed my life. If you're interested in learning more about Selling Your Expertise, watch this video trailer. You might also like this updated list of my book and course recommendations.
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