Jeff Goins's Blog, page 32

130: Stop Running Away From Your Story: Interview with John O’Leary

Everybody has an origin story. The heroes and villains of your favorite novels have one. And so do you. But perhaps it’s not the same story you’re telling to the world.

This week on The Portfolio Life, John O’Leary and I talk about a defining moment when an explosion launched John 20 feet across his garage with third degree burns covering almost 90% of his body.

Listen in as we discuss how John ran from this story for three decades until it finally caught up with him.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, John and I discuss:

Trying to live a normal childhood after the explosion
How his parents sold 75,000 copies of an unauthorized biography
John’s first speaking invitation from a few girl scouts
The ultimate question to ask about your book, speech, or blog
Why vulnerability disarms people
Who we always look for in our third grade class photo
Using story to build bridges

Quotes

“We frequently confuse being out of bed with being awake.” —John O’Leary
“When you make your story an excuse to get other people sharing their story, powerful things can happen.” —John O’Leary
“Wake up from accidental living.” —John O’Leary
“Do the next best thing right now.” —John O’Leary

Resources

On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life by John O’Leary
Inspirational Leadership
John O’Leary on Twitter

Click here to download a PDF of the full transcript or scroll down to read it below.

What is your story? Are you running from it or telling it? Share in the comments

[INTRODUCTION]

Today’s guest survived burns on 100% of his body. 87% of those burns were third degree burns and it happened when he was 9 years old. He then spent the next three decades running from that story, until finally it caught up with him.

Here’s Jeff Goins and John O’Leary.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:01:07] JG: John, welcome to the show.

[00:01:09] JO: Jeff, delighted to be with you, man.

[00:01:11] JG: Glad you’re here. It’s been fun to connect. I want to just jump into your story. You called me up, gosh, several months ago now and started sharing your story and I just thought it was so incredible. It’s touched a lot of people I know, and we’re going to talk about that, your book, and all kinds of other things. But let’s, you know, take us back to really where your story begins.

[00:01:33] JO: Yeah, so it’s my belief now that everybody has a story, just frequently not the story we’re telling the world. I’m a living example of that truth. I spent the majority of my life, almost three decades not really knowing what my story was, and what it is is this Jeff: when I was nine years old, I was involved in an explosion in my garage that split a can of gasoline in two, it picked me up, launched me 20 feet against the far side of the garage, literally set my world on fire.

I ended up with burns on 100% of my body, 87% were third degree, and then would eventually spend the next five months in hospital, the next several years recovering and going through surgeries, and therapy, and all the arduous efforts involved in this. But then the rest of my life, trying my very best to forget about it all and pretend like it never happened. So that’s the baseline, that’s the foundation, that’s the beginning of my story.

[00:02:33] JG: It’s incredible, because this is such an important part of what you do as an author, as a speaker. You’ve got this national bestselling book, On Fire: The seven choices to ignite a radically inspired life, and yet this was a story that you thought, “Oh, that just happened to me. I want to move on from that.”

[00:02:54] JO: When it first happened, my mom came into the room where I was, in the emergency room. She has not seen me yet, she walked over to me, she takes my hand and my hand is completely burnt up. I’m eventually going to lose all my fingers to amputation. We don’t know that then, but we know it’s not good. So she takes my hand, she pats my bald head and she says, “I love you. I love you, John.”

And I just remember thinking, “Gosh, I can’t believe she’s not furious with me,” you know? I blew up the garage, I blew up this can of gasoline, I caught the house on fire, I thought she’d be irate. And when she said, “I love you,” I remember thinking, “Gosh, it’s actually serious. It’s not just about the garage or the gasoline can, it’s much more.” So I looked up at my mom and I said, “Mom, knock it off with the love. Am I going to die?” And this lady, and I was one of six kids, six babies, but this is her favorite laying in front of her, so she’s got a lot at stake right now. And I remember she looked back at me and she says, “Honey, do you want to die? Your choice, it’s not mine.”

[00:03:56] JG: Oh my gosh.

[00:03:57] JO: And I just remember thinking, “Oh, gosh, how cold-hearted are you, lady?” I was looking for the milkshake promise. I thought she would say, “Baby, everything is going to be okay and we’re going to get you out of here today and we’ll swing through McDonald’s on the way home.” But that woman that day set in front of me truth, “Your choice, not mine.” And I remember saying something like, “Mom, I do not want to die. I want to live.”

And her response was, “Good, baby. I’m glad. You made the right call. Then take the hand of God, you walk the journey with him, but you fight like you have never, ever, ever fought before.” And Jeff, on January 17th, 1987 a 9-year-old boy now flanked by his mom and dad, decided to fight on having no clue what the 18th of January or the 19th, or the first round of surgeries, or the first round of amputations, or the bandage changes would look like.

All we knew was the fight was on, and as the fight continued, I made a decision that once I got out of this hospital I was going to be ordinary, I was going to fit in. I was going to be like everybody else. This weird, kind of healthy decision while in the hospital, but then this ultimately unhealthy decision, this goal to fit in is ultimately why I hid from the scars, and I hid from that story, and I hid from the beauty of it all candidly, for three decades.

[00:05:17] JG: Wow. And then what eventually woke you up, made you want to tell the story?

[00:05:23] JO: Gosh, and I love that term, “wake up”. I think frequently we confuse being out of bed with being awake.

[00:05:29] JG: Yeah.

[00:05:30] JO: You know, we confuse being married to being in love or we confuse having a child and us being a parent. And hey, don’t confuse these things. So yeah, waking up is a great way to say it, Jeff. What woke me up, what really changed literally my life, and my mindset, and what I do professionally today, and how I look in the mirror, and how I treat others, was 11 years ago when my mom and dad wrote a book about what happened to their son two decades earlier. This unauthorized biography of my life, essentially.

I remember thinking, “Gosh, guys, why are you writing this? You’re not writers. You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m not even sure you know how to use a PC at this point.” And yet they wrote a book, it came from their heart, and I know that’s a lot of what you write about and you preach about, “Have a story and then tell it to the world. Come from your heart though. Share your knowledge.” That’s what they did, they shared their heart.

They printed 100 copies and in the 11 years since, they have sold more than 75,000 copies, which is a huge hit for stay at home mother and a fella who today is inaudible, because he’s got Parkinson’s Disease. You can’t even really understand my father anymore. But they wrote this story, they shared their scars, they shared mine, and they changed my world. I remember looking at that book the first night it came out, I read it. This picture of me on the front of it from when I was 9-years-old, the first night home, this big ol’ smile on my face.

But this picture for me, for decades, it always reminded me of the wheelchair. Because if you look really closely, you can see the handle in the background. It reminded me of the neck brace and the scars and the challenges of the previous five months. But after reading their book, instead of seeing all that was wrong, for the first time ever I saw the gift and the miracle. The fact that, yes, the majority of my body was burned, but my face was saved. And that is nothing short of a miracle.

I saw a smile on this kid’s face, I saw a twinkle, and hope and faith and boldness still in his eyes. I saw this optimism and this resiliency and this grit that I had never acknowledged before. Maybe even more than that, in reading their story, I realized I was not the only one that got burnt. I read about my mom and dad and all that they struggled through, and my five siblings and all that they lost. This gift of empathy came out of reading that, which freed me finally to fully embrace my shadow and the great gift of my life and to change really the manner in which I operated, change my MO, change the way I looked in the mirror.

And it opens me up about three months later when a group of Girl Scouts, Jeff, there were a grand total of four third grade Girl Scouts that asked me to speak for their group. I’m an introvert by nature, I’m not a writer, never written anything except in college and high school when I had to. I hated writing back then. But I’ve always thought in life, when opportunities knock, whether it’s Jeff saying, “Hey, will you come on my podcast,” or four Girl Scouts saying, “Will you speak to our class, Mr. O’Leary?” The answer is “yes”.

So this introverted guy who had never told anybody his story, shows up. I practiced the talk, Jeff. It was a 10 minute talk. Practiced the talk for more than 45 hours, preparing to speak, and I’m not exaggerating.

[00:08:42] JG: That’s amazing.

[00:08:43] JO: Preparing to speak to these girls. I walked into the classroom, never looked at the little monsters, read from my notes the entire time, that’s my first talk. There were no Samoas exchanged, there was no compensation granted, I got nothing for it, except a general applause and hugs on the way out the door. But that’s my first talk, and I’ll never forget it, man. I’ve given 1,600 since, but my first one was to four Girl Scouts in the third grade and again, it changed my life.

[00:09:12] JG: I’m a little disappointed that there were no Samoas. I mean…

[00:09:15] JO: I remain crushed, and that’s my currency.

[00:09:18] JG: Yeah. Those are dangerous. So you’ve got this incredible book and it’s touching lots of peoples’ lives. It’s obviously an amazing story, and yet it took your parents telling it first, and you just being touched by the empathy of that to realize that this is something that other people needed to hear.

[00:09:41] JO: That’s still what touches our hearts and motivates us to write and podcast, and blog, and create, and innovate in ways that we did not yesterday. This empathy, and realize that people need to hear a story of hope, perspective, persistence, and the truth that in spite of what all these candidates are yelling about, the best is yet to come. We live in a charmed and a blessed time, but the media has us focused and fixated on fear, and what you focus on in life begins to grow everywhere around you.

So in comes this guy who’s a little bit beat down by the scars of his life, sharing stories not about me – the reason I love writing, the reasons I love speaking is because the stories I share have actually nothing to do with me. I happen to be one of the characters, but I’m more like one of the observers. I’m paying attention to what’s happening around me, or to me, and then sharing the good news. And even in speaking, I don’t talk about, “Gosh, then a burn patient goes through this, and then the poor burn patient goes through this surgery, and oh the poor guy. But I climbed on.”

The word “I” is seldom used. It’s stories of parents who walk into emergency rooms and it’s a story of siblings who show up when a little boy is still on fire, and the actions they take that saved that little boy’s life. The story of volunteers and announcers, and servants, and doctors, and nurses, and people I’ll never meet again who showed up to the next best thing, right on time and through their generosity, you and I are on the show today. So I get to brag about others and then share what I learned from them and what it means for the rest of us in our writing, in our speaking, in our parenting, and in our lives.

[00:11:19] JG: That’s really interesting John, because you know, you’ve probably encountered people especially out speaking, but when you write a book eventually you find other people who want to be writers, or they find you. And I often hear this and they go, “I’ve got this great story that I need to tell,” and the truth is, that isn’t always, perhaps often, what makes a great book. And it seems to me that you intuitively understood that you had this extreme story, which is incredible, but extreme stories have this ability sometimes to make people feel like, you know, “My problems are not that big.” Or, “I could never do that.” Or, “I’m just trying to lose 10 lbs.” Or whatever it is.

And yet you’ve taken a very extreme, incredible story and just by virtue of the success of your book, it’s evident that you’ve translated this into other people’s stories and practical things that people can do today to live more fully alive. Is that something that you intuitively just understood, like people are going to disconnect from something so extreme if it’s all about me and all the stuff that I went through and how I overcame all this stuff? Or did you have to learn that?

[00:12:30] JO: Right, it’s a great question. Even the question shows a lot of insight, Jeff. When we get an old class picture in front of us, so take yourself back to third grade, now look at your class picture. Who are you looking for first? Are you really looking for the cute girl that you were in love with? Are you looking for the teacher? Are you looking for your best friend? Always, you look for yourself.

[00:12:53] JG: Yeah.

[00:12:53] JO: I think it’s important we recognize that and the way we view third grade class pictures, but also the way we read books, the way we sit in audiences, the way we read blogs, the way we listen to podcasts, the way we do almost anything in life. And I say this with great candor and great love, but we are a selfish people, and that’s okay. Once we realize, “Hey, love wins but you’ve got to first sell them something that will turn them on to the great possibility in their own lives and what they can do for the lives around them.

The most phenomenally greatest story ever told is only about one person. That story will never be told well, because it lives and dies with the person telling it. It’s when that story ripples out and says, “And this is what it means for you, and this is how it’s going to touch your life, and this is how you’ll be a better spouse, or a partner, or a parent, or sell more books, or whatever else you’re doing.” That’s when we sit up, that’s when we take notice, that’s when we stand in line to meet that person and say, “Gosh, my story is nothing like yours, but you’ve got to hear it.”

The more I find that I share vulnerably my story from the lens of the other heroes that show up, because Jeff, when you hear me speak or you read my stuff, I’m not the hero. I’m the storyteller. It’s everyone else that’s the hero. But it disarms people, it allows them to remove their mask, to come up to you afterwards and then to share boldly theirs. And then through empathy and connection you can build a bridge to say, “Gosh, what can we do with this together?”

[00:14:12] JG: Yeah, I love that. Really smart, not something that is intuitive or natural to a lot of people. Even, frankly, probably some people that you’re sharing the stage with. But as you’ve seen, John, and as you practice, which I love, when you really make your story an excuse to get other people sharing their story, I just think that’s when really powerful connection happens. And I think that’s what most of us want anyway, when we’re writing books, giving speeches, creating stuff, it’s we want to not feel so alone; we want to connect with people.

[00:14:47] JO: And I think the idea is to take the microphone, take the megaphone, take the typewriter, take whatever vehicle you’re using to share your knowledge. You’ve got a lot of people listening right now who have an awful lot of knowledge to share, but making sure as they share, as they type, as they speak, that they identify who the hero of the story is.

And if they’re striving to make themselves the smartest, the fastest, the brashest, it’s a story that has a short shelf-life. If we’re striving to share in a way to elevate the way others do work and do life, they win. And the beauty is this: and then we win too. So I think, yes, you can wear the cape in the story, but make sure you put it on someone else first.

[00:15:29] JG: I like that. Yeah, that makes sense. Were you afraid, ashamed, embarrassed? Did you struggle at all when it came to first going out there and telling your story? And I’m thinking especially when it comes to speaking, but writing as well?

[00:15:45] JO: And the answer is “yes” to both. I was shocked first of all that anybody would want to hear it, and I think all of it, like I said in the opening remarks, we all have a magnificent story and magnificent knowledge. I think we just need to figure out ways to package it more effectively so that others will want to hear it and that we’ll be passionate to share it. So I was amazed that anybody would want to hear this story, and I think that lack of confidence came across the first four years. I did not really know who I was, I did not really know the beauty of this story, and if you don’t really know it for yourself you can’t possibly multiply it to impact that lives you’re trying to share it in front of.

It’s when you can wholeheartedly share the beauty of your knowledge, and your story, and your life, that it can have other people sitting up and again, standing up eventually realizing the beauty of their own life, which is ultimately what we’re all trying to move people towards. I don’t think anybody writes a book or gives a speech for an audience of one. You’re not just doing it so that you can have it eventually on your night stand and say, “My god, I am the best author I know. Just ask me. Just ask me. I fricken rock!” Which brings up another point; writing a good book or giving a good speech is not enough. How do you market it? How do you package it? Who do you know?

I remember years ago I did some research before I wrote my book on leadership and leadership books, and I think in 2011 there were 36,000 plus books written on leadership alone. That’s a crowded marketplace to swim in. If you think your leadership is that much better than everybody else, maybe? But how are you going to tell us all about it? And I think as we share our stories, as we share our mind — mindshare — part of what we ought to be thinking is, “And how best can I share this message to a marketplace hungry for it?”

[00:17:23] JG: Yeah. Well your book is one of those books, it’s connected with a lot of people in just a matter of months. It was an instant number one national bestseller. Why do you think it connected with people? What have people told you that has been useful feedback for you, and how did that align with your own expectations of the book?

[00:17:42] JO: So Jeff, when I give speeches, before I sit down to write it and, you know, I’ve provided quite a few now so it’s almost second nature. It’s almost who I am. I still always ask the question before I sit down to bullet point it out, “Why does this matter to the lady, the gentleman, the person in the back row?” And in answering that, you can create a speech that will get the lady, the gentleman, the whomever in the back row to uncross their arms, open up their heart and take notice for what’s possible in their life.

If you can do that as a speaker, well then you also should probably ask yourself, because I write a newsletter every Monday, “Why does this matter to the 100,000 people that are going to read this this week? What does it mean to them?” And if I can’t answer that, throw it in the trash because it’s not worthy. So I ask myself that as a blogger. When I do podcasts, I ask the same. I post daily on Facebook and Twitter, I ask the same, “Why does this matter, man?” Not to me, but to others.

So in writing the book, it wasn’t, “Um, how can I sell copies?” Or, “How can I make myself seem great?” Every single word, literally every single sentence and paragraph, and then chapter, and then the entirety of the book, was focused on “why does this matter?”. And one of the ways that I was able to really focus this energy, maybe this is something your experts can take on if they choose, I wrote every chapter for an individual person in mind.

[00:19:02] JG: Oh, interesting. Like each chapter was for a different person?

[00:19:05] JO: Absolutely.

[00:19:06] JG: Oh cool.

[00:19:06] JO: I wrote one chapter for a person that I know, and I won’t say who, has an absolutely brutal attitude. And I love this person, I want this person to realize how beautiful they are, and how blessed they are in live, and how amazing the gifts in front of them each day is, but they don’t. Every day is brutal for them. There’s no reason for that. And so all of chapter four was around this person and I was trying to think of, “What is the best love letter that I could provide this person? Here it is.”

I have four children, so all of my four babies — they don’t even know this, but I wrote chapters for each of them. I wrote a chapter for my wife, I wrote a chapter for my mother, and I wrote a chapter for my father. So being focused on “why”, who’s the end user? It allowed me to write a love letter in language that connected, I hoped, maybe with seven people. But in writing it for them, it’s amazing. I think it connected with maybe people they knew and it may be people they knew.

Even the cover of the book, On Fire, I’m not on the front of it. When you flip it over to the back, O’Leary and his four kids and his gorgeous wife, they’re not on the back. There’s no Golden Retriever Pictured. It’s all about the reader. You’ve got to open it up to see a couple of pictures of John, and a couple of pictures of the fire, and a couple pictures of his kids. But we begin with the most important person in mind, which is the user, man. The buyer, the reader, that’s who’s life we’re trying to change.

[00:20:23] JG: Yeah. I love that. I love that idea of just writing piece of your book for different people. That’s brilliant. That’s a great, great tip. Well, so you’ve got this book, you’ve got this message, you’re sharing it with crowds and companies and large audiences and conferences, and it’s all kind of couched around this idea of being radically inspired. Now as a writer who talks about a lot of other writers and creatives, that maybe even kind of means something different in the context of like, “How do you get your inspiration?” Right?

This is a question that I hear all the time and one I really struggle to answer. And I’m curious, because here you are living a radically inspired life, inspiring others to do the same, what does that word “inspiration” mean to you? Because in the writing community it is sort of polarizing. Like some people believe in inspiration, they wait for the muse before they go create or do their work and other people don’t believe in it, then they just go to work and they go, “Yeah, whatever. Like, I don’t wait for inspiration. I just do it.”

[00:21:22] JO: Yes.

Click here to download a PDF of the full transcript.

[00:21:24] JG: What does that word “inspiration” mean to you? You’re helping other people find it, how do you find it for yourself as well?

[00:21:30] JO: Awesome, and the answer to your question on the front side is “yes”. So there are days where I’m highly lit up for life, and there are days where I look at the screen wondering, “What in the world am I going to type next? I think they’ve heard it all from me already.” Sometimes you’ve got to dig deep for inspiration. Your specific question, “What does inspiration mean for you?” In the old Webster dictionary, and I’m a pretty faithful guy, but one of the definitions was simply “spirit”. Another definition was “to breathe life and possibility into those around us”.

How can you argue that there’s not a need in the marketplace for these two things? I mean, it’s really difficult for me to say, “Dude, we don’t need people to wake up to the possibility of their lives.” Well, really? Have you taken a look around the subway? Have you seen how closed off people are in Starbucks today? Have you seen the animosity and the vigor with which we hate things online and then we judge and we have chaos all around us? So I think the marketplace is starved, starved for hope and inspiration.

So then the next question is, “Okay, good O’Leary, we might agree with you on that, but where do you find yours?” And it’s odd to say this, for a guy who communicates a lot online like I do and like I know you do too, but I think frequently we’ve got to shut the laptop, we’ve got to keep the phone off, and you’ve got to keep your eyes wide open and you’ve got to cut away the cataracts. You’ve got to really look to understand, and really listen to hear. And the more our eyes are opened to see what is really happening around us, the more we’ll see things through a lens that the rest of the world is not.

And in the more articulate way we are able to share that with those around us, they will sit up, they’ll take notice, and they’ll say, “Gosh, we’re not hearing this very frequently. Who is this guy? Who is this gal? What is it they’re talking about? What is it they’re writing about?” And then all of a sudden now we start to build this tribe, and we start to build this movement, a movement that with the wars and the shooting and the casualties that are around us all day, I think now is the time for it. So I am trading in inspiration. I am unapologetic about it, and I am looking for some followers and some evangelists to share the stadium with me.

[00:23:35] JG: Yeah. No, I love that. Is there a time, and maybe this happens on a regular basis, when you were sharing your story through your book or your blog or your videos that you do, your podcast or anything like that, speaking to an audience, whatever it might be, where somebody came up to you and was inspired by you in a way that surprised you?

[00:23:56] JO: So it happens, and I say this with the greatest amount of humility but honesty too, every day when I’m speaking. In sharing the story, you know, I’m burned. Just to kind of — because we didn’t talk much about the burn story. But this kid’s burned on 100% of his body, 87% third degree. The math on this my friends, is you take the percentage of the body burned, you add the age of the victim, and you figure out mortality. So in 2016 there is 109% likelihood of this kid dying. in 1987 there is no chance.

So you’ve got to understand, it’s a crazy story no matter what. But the way it’s shared is all about the people who come into this little boy’s world. What they do, the roadblocks they bump into, the challenges they face, the adversity that they must overcome and how they seek to move through it anyway. It’s me learning as a kid about it, it’s me then sharing this as a man, and it’s me encouraging readers and audience members on what they can do in their own lives.

And so it’s a highly, and we’ve used this word already but here it comes again, highly inspirational story of what is possible in all our lives. Because it’s not a burn story, it’s actually a life story. It’s an overcoming story. So then afterwards the beauty is people come up, they stick around in line, they give me a hug and the very first thing they usually say is, “Man, my story is not like your, but…” and then they go on and sometimes it’s about divorce, sometimes it’s about child abuse, sometimes it’s about things we can’t even talk about on this show.

Other times it’s about, “I’m struggling in sales. I don’t know where to turn next in creativity. I’m not sure how to build following.” Whatever. But it’s their story and it’s real, and it’s our opportunity in that sacred moment to poor into it and to invest in them the best that we have. So I’m always amazed at the awe and the beauty that people are willing to share their stories with me.

[00:25:50] JG: Looking back on it all, John, do you have any regrets?

[00:25:56] JO: There’s a lot of ways to answer that. The answer’s always “yes”, even the way I left my house this morning, you know?

[00:26:01] JG: Sure.

[00:26:02] JO: And I say that sincerely. I could have done a better job with my wife and I could have done a better job with my kids, I could have. I could have done a more effective job this morning at work. I could have been more effective in jumping into work and doing the next best thing. So constant regrets, but it’s not living in there. The regret I had for 20 years was blowing myself up, for a litany of reasons. One is, every time I look in the mirror it’s a reminder. Secondly, every time I feel an ache or a pang on my body, I realize why. Thirdly, I spent the majority of my life with no close love. I never dated until after college, and that’s painful.

But now looking back on it, I’ve realized that the best of my life was the result of that explosion. It led to where I went to college, it led to a chance encounter — I don’t believe in coincidences — with a brunette with brown eyes named Elizabeth Grace. It took a while to court her, but I found that, truly man go online, Google O’Leary and you’ll believe me once you see her. She’s stunning. But as pretty as she is physically, it’s her heart that I’m really referring to there.

She’s just got a beautiful heart, she’s blessed me with four kids, I have work that matters, we’re well compensated for it, we’re touching lives each day, we live in the freest, wealthiest country in the history of the world. Are you kidding me? So today I have no major regrets, it’s just a desire. Like, I encourage my friends and followers to do, to continually wake up from accidental living, to choose to be inspired, and to do the next best thing right now.

[00:27:28] JG: Yeah, I love that. What does tomorrow look like for you? What is the next best thing?

[00:27:35] JO: So, I’ve earned my frequent flyer miles from all the major airlines and you sometimes sit next to people flying through the night, from LA to New York, bragging on how many miles they’ve collected while they drink their gin and tonic. And I’m looking at my phone at pictures of my kids, homesick. So, yes I love my work. I imagine that I’ll always be a presenter, as long as I have a voice to share and people to listen to it, so I’m looking forward to that.

But it is pulling back on the travel, it’s speaking maybe a bit less frequently to maybe larger audiences intentionally. It’s writing more, it’s having a podcast, it’s having a radio show that we just started. It’s touching more, and more, and more lives, not from the platform in some random city that I love, but touching lives from my den, which is a room away from our kitchen, which is a room away from my kids’ bedroom, which is the room that I want to spend the majority of my life in.

So I am now focused not only on what I want to do, which is touch lives around the world, to wake people up from accidental living, but also where I want to do it. I think, frequently, we can become the victims of our own success. I wanted, in the early stages, to become a speaker. Well, two years ago I spoke 169 times, the year before 194 times. That number continues to fall downward because we’re saying “yes” less often, we’re saying “yes” to the more appropriate groups, we’ve having a greater impact because we’re pulling back our time and reinvesting that time in areas of work, in areas of life that matter more.

[00:29:03] JG: Well, John, you inspire me, not just with your story but with the choices that you’re making today with your life and I aspire to do a lot of those things as well and so maybe we can hold each other accountable?

[00:29:15] JO: Man, I’m in. I’m a St. Louis, Missouri guy and I know we’re communicating through email all the time. I’m also a follower of yours online. I love what you do. I not only hop on your podcast, but I drink the Kool-Aid. So I am honored to be on, I’m delighted to help mix it today and looking forward to drinking more going forward.

[00:29:31] JG: Well, thanks John. Hopefully we’ll combine that Kool-Aid with a couple of Samoas. I eat Samoas like Brian Regan talks about eating Fig Newtons. Like he looked at the package, and I don’t know if you know this bit, but he is like, it’s like one Newton cake, one Fig bar or whatever they call them, is a serving. He goes, “One? I eat those things by the sleeve!” That’s how I eat Samoas, by the half a box.

[00:29:59] JO: Well, that’s how I do it too. And I also usually do it from a random room in my house where my kids can’t find. Because the Samoas man, they go quick.

[00:30:07] JG: Yeah. It’s not a quiet experience either with the crinkling of the paper and, yeah.

[00:30:10] JO: No.

[00:30:11] JG: Well, John this was a pleasure. Thanks so much for your time and sharing your story. The book is, On Fire. A lot of people are loving it, I am one of those people. You’re inspiring a lot of people, thousands of people, and I’m grateful to be on of them. So thank you.

[END OF INTERVIEW]

[00:30:30] AT: So, what’s your story? And are you running from it, or are you telling it? Let us know by going to goinswriter.com/130. Or message Jeff on Twitter @jeffgoins. We appreciate the time you take to listen to our show. I’m Andy Traub and on behalf of Jeff Goins, thanks for spending some time with us.

Now, go build your portfolio.

“JO: We all have a magnificent story and magnificent knowledge. I think we just need to figure out ways to package it more effectively so that others will want to hear it, and that we’ll be passionate to share it.”

[END]

How to Improve Your Writing Speed and Quality Simultaneously

One friend of mine publishes multiple novels per year. He is incredibly prolific in a way that sickens those of us who struggle to get our words out. For the longest time, I thought he was doing it wrong. Turns out, I was the one who was wrong.

As a writer, I had this snobbish idea that the best, most meaningful work happened slowly and painstakingly. But that’s just not true. One of the most important skills for a writer to learn is how to write quickly.

“One of the most important skills for a writer to learn is how to write quickly.Tweet thisTweet

This is something I learned from NaNoWrimo, when I was in the middle of a mad dash to write 50,000 of a new novel from scratch. Not only was it the first time I’d written fiction in over ten years, it was the first time I’d ever attempted to write an entire book in one month, period.

What I learned from the process is that you can write faster than you think.

Why am I a fan of fast writing? A few reasons:

Because the first step to writing anything is to get the words out. Whether that’s a book or a blog post, your job is to get it done, now.
Because the faster you get the words out, the sooner you can start editing. And as we all know, all good writing is rewriting.
Because the faster you write, the more you write. And the more you write, the better you write.

In the end, writing is about quantity. Quality follows quantity, and we all have the power to get more of our writing out there, if we’re willing to learn how to become faster writers.

“The faster you write, the more you write. The more you write, the better you write.Tweet thisTweet
Write faster to write better

Blogging, coupled with the discipline of writing every day, allowed me to increase not only my writing output, but my writing speed. And as that’s happened, I’ve become a better and more prolific writer.

I think the same can be true for you. Here’s how you start writing faster without letting the quality of your work suffer.

1. Commit to writing daily

Just pick something. I shoot for at least 500 words a day, sometimes more. If I’m working on a blog post, I break it into chunks and tackle them one at a time. If I have a 1500-word article to write, I spend three days writing it.

The point is to get the words down as quickly as possible, and in order to do that you first have to have a time and place to write daily. For more on that, check out my free 31-day writing challenge at my500words.com (you’ll get access to a free writing accountability group along with it!).

2. Commit to editing later

When I was working on my novel, I misspelled obvious, ordinary words that I learned in grade school. Every grammar nerd bone in me wanted to go back and fix those mistakes, but I also knew that my job wasn’t to write a publishable book in a month. It was to finish a manuscript.

Understanding your goal is essential to crossing the finish line in any project. I knew that once the novel was finished, I’d have something to edit. But the editing comes after the writing, not before.

Remember, writing is three things, not one thing. It is coming up with ideas, drafting those ideas into pieces, then editing those pieces so they can be published. For more on that, see my three-bucket system.

3. Commit to a deadline

I always write fastest when I have a deadline. I’m not perfect at this, but I’ve noticed this is a major distinction between professional writers and amateurs. All the professionals I know are pretty crazy about hitting deadlines. They understand this is what separates them from the pretenders. The goal is not perfection, but consistency. And nothing moves a writer like a deadline.

In this case, I have to finish this article in the next five minutes before I pack up and go home for the day. And so I’m averaging about 90 words per minute.

You can do incredible things when you’re backed up against a wall. I like blogging for this reason, because it sets the expectation that you show up, and when you don’t, people notice. So set a deadline, let people know when it is, and make sure you don’t disappoint them.

“Nothing moves a writer like a deadline.Tweet thisTweet
It’s a means, not an end

Keep in mind that writing fast for the sake of being fast is not the goal. It’s about writing fast so that you can get more work done, which will allow you to get better, and to share more of your words with more people.

What you should measure is not how fast you are compared to me or anyone else, but how fast you are now to how fast you were yesterday. The goal is growth, not arriving at any given point.

As you grow in your writing speed, your quality and output will soon follow.

How fast do you typically write? Do you struggle with creating quality and quantity? Share in the comments.

129: How to Build a Community of Raving Fans for Your Book Launch

The last sound you want to hear after releasing a new project into the world is silence. What if there was a way to launch a book (or blog or business) to a crowd of raving fans instead?

Many people don’t think military deserter and cosmetology instructor belong in the same sentence let alone in the same Twitter bio.

David Mike is an author who self-published his story of being dishonorably discharged, prison time, drug dealing, and redemption.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Andy and I talk how David self-published his story of being dishonorably discharged to a cheering community of fans. Listen in as we discuss facing fear, not letting your past define your future, and how to create connection through vulnerability.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, we discuss:

Counter-intuitive strategies to building a book launch
Leveraging Facebook groups to create momentum
What it takes to get 84 5-star Amazon reviews
The power of practicing in public to engage your tribe

Takeaways

Let people peek behind the curtain of your work to create early buy-in.
Build a community where we can help each other.
Come to the table ready to generously share.
Being small makes you big sometimes.
We all want characters we can empathize with. No one wants to empathize with someone who is perfect.

“I’m not building community so I have someone to sell to. I’m doing it so that we all have each other’s support.David MikeTweet thisTweet
Resources

Dishonor  by David Mike
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
What Most Self-Published Authors Do Wrong (and What This One Did Instead)

Click here to download a PDF of the full transcript or scroll down to read it below.

What is your story of redemption? How are you showing up authentically for your audience? Share in the comments.

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:17.9] AT: Welcome to the Portfolio Life Podcast with Jeff Goins. I’m your host Andy Traub. Jeff believes that every creative should live a portfolio life,a life full of pursuing work that matters, making a difference with your art, and discovering your true voice. Jeff’s committed to helping you find, develop, and live out your unique world view so that you too can live a portfolio life.

Today, Jeff and I are going to tell you about a dishonored man. An author who successfully self- published his story of a dishonorable discharge. You’ll learn about facing fear but not letting your past define your future and how to create connection through vulnerability. Here’s our conversation about author David Mike.

[EPISODE]

[0:01:04.9] AT: Jeff, I noticed you mentioned a name and recent post of someone that I know and have sort of connected with through that Tribe Writer’s community, that was David Mike, when did you first get connected with him? Do you remember how?

[0:01:19.9] JG: Yeah, it was through Tribe Writers, my online course for writers and he was a student. He is a member of that community and we’ve been in touch for a while now. In fact, we actually connected over a coaching call early on and I remember seeing this book come out and I just realized like he was just super eager to get it into people’s hands without — but he wasn’t desperate. I was like, you know, you see people launch books every year, lots of people and I was kind of watching from afar, a little bit skeptically.

Because I see this happen often, people kind of launch a book and then they go, you know, it just sort of fizzles out and they don’t really do the work and I was amazed to see David not do that. like he went for it. He did some really smart things with his book launch that are kind of counter-intuitive even counter-intuitive to some of the things that I teach and what I mean by that is he didn’t spend a bunch of time building an email list or like just creating an online marketing funnel or something. He did something even better than that, which is really at the heart of what it takes to build a tribe and the results speak for themselves. Within two months of publishing the book, he’s got 84 five star reviews. I’m looking at the reviews and it’s 99% of the reviews are five star. It doesn’t even show, and one percent is

[0:02:46.9]AT: That one four star downer, let’s read the way they ripped him a new one and a that one, right?

[0:02:54.1] JG: Yeah, so it’s just incredible. I mean, the story is amazing, he ended up going to prison, just crazy, crazy stuff.

[0:03:03.0] AT: Because he deserted the US Army, I believe. I mean, he didn’t just go to Prison because he robbed a liquor store like — and that’s the really interesting thing about this is that he got discharged for desertion. So you kind of start the whole thing of with like, “What a jerk. Wait a minute, this is redemption, right? Redemption.” So, what did he do that worked?

[0:03:24.1] JG: Right, so I’ve got to go back to when he started his blog and he didn’t have a huge email list, wasn’t getting a bunch of traffic to his blog and one of the smart things that he was doing is he was using Facebook groups to share kind of his progress of his blog and his blog was basically his story.

He was doing what I call applying this rule of how you build an audience which is by practicing in public. He was practicing in public by basically trying to tell his story on a blog and then he adapted a lot of that content and turned it into a book and really built on that, edited it, and turned it into more than just a collection of blog post. But initially, he was just sharing his story of this very compelling, fascinating story of loss and redemption and just really cool stuff.

Initially, he built his audience by just sharing his work in these different Facebook groups that he was a member of and what that did kind of behind-the-scenes is it got people bought into him into his story. I mean, I bought into it because it was compelling and interesting. He was very openly and vulnerably sharing, “Here’s where I’m at with my process right now. I’m trying to tell my story, I’ve got something interesting to say, but nobody’s necessarily listening right now. Not a lot of people are listening except people that I know.”

So, he was sharing that with other communities, particularly the tribe writer’s community and then other Facebook groups that he was a part of and people started buying into it so that when his book launched, man, I have not seen people support a book launch like that in a long time. It was at the level that like, you know, a Michael Hyatt or something in terms of everybody is just talking about this. But instead of having half a million email subscribers, David had a few hundred, maybe. But he had this community of people who were cheering him on, who wanted to see him win.

He said, you know, he was publishing pieces of his book on his blog and then sharing it with different groups and he leveraged that into a launch group. So he got several hundred people to say, “I actually want to help you launch this book.” So these people were giving him feedback, he was using that feedback to make the book better and by the time the book came out — and you know this Andy because you’ve done this too — he had this whole army of people, hundreds of people who weren’t just like passively in his audience, waiting for him to say, “Go buy my book.”

They were going out like a street team and saying, “Everybody needs to go buy this book,” and I love what he said about this and you can read this in the post that I wrote about the story and he says, “I’m not building community so I have someone to sell to. I am doing it so that we all have each other’s support.” So I think there’s something really important here to kind of take note of which, is he didn’t like build an email list or get a bunch of people to buy into his book launch so that he could sell them a book.

He really genuinely did it so that he could get help from them and he could help them just by saying, “Hey, let’s build a community where we can help each other.” Yes, he gets something out of it but he came to the table ready to generously share something, and I think when you build a community of any kind, people can intuitively sense what your motives are pretty easily and if your primary motivation is “I’m going to get something out of this”, it’s going to be a turnoff to people. You might get some people involved but you don’t get the kind of raving fans.

David had when he launched his book where everybody just wanted him to win, everybody was cheering him on and it worked.

[0:07:19.8] AT: Yeah, it worked because he treated a situation really well like, if anyone has every pinned a dishonorable position. and again the name of the book is Dishonor, and he didn’t say, “I’m a hero.” He said, “I messed up and this is how I redeem my life,” and he was very vulnerable throughout the process and it’s very ironic that being small and humble in that way draws people to you, right?

[0:07:47.6] JG: Yeah, being small makes you big sometimes. But yeah, it’s a story about being dishonorably discharged, facing jail time for that, then drugs and addiction and all kinds of criminal activity, then faith. You know, it’s got this whole hero’s journey arc and so we all want characters that we can empathize with and nobody wants to empathize with somebody who is perfect. We want to empathize with somebody who is kind of messed up like we are, but we also want to believe that transformation is possible and so through David’s transformation, you see, “Wow, maybe that could be true to me?”

I mean this is the secret to all great stories, especially a great memoire, which is what I would classify Dishonor as, and he’s just sharing his whole story not just like, “Hey, I lived through this at one time.” But he’s also sharing this story that he’s living now, which is, “I’m a hairdresser who has this really interesting back story. It’s kind of this unlikely hero that everybody wants to root for, help my book, help my story reach more people.” That in and of itself is an underdog story and lots of people came to his side to help him win and that’s exactly what happened.

[0:09:06.0] AT: Exactly what happened. Yeah, you can read more about David Mike at goinswriter.com/self-publishing-success and I love the title, What Most Self-Published Authors Do Wrong and What This One Did Instead. So, be sure to check out that post, we’ll link to it in the show notes of today’s episode. Congratulations David, I’m believing you’re going to listen to this at some point and way to ship and make it happen and to be brave and we’re honored to be able to talk about your story. Jeff, as always, thanks for your time.

[0:09:39.5] JG: Yeah, thank you.

[0:09:47.0] AT: So what did you learn today about your own writing? About your mindset? About vulnerability and a path to success? You can let us know by going to Goinswriter.com/129 or message Jeff on Twitter @jeffgoins. We do appreciate the time you take to listen to our show. I’m Andy Traub and on behalf of Jeff Goins, thanks for spending some time with us.

Now, go build your portfolio.

[END]

How to Begin Writing a Novel When You Don’t Know What to Do

So I’m about 20% into my new novel at this point, and was just struck with a very important realization: I have no idea what I’m doing. But it’s fun to learn new things, right? Well, sometimes.

As this challenge gets progressively harder, I’m learning a few lessons about the art of writing fiction (which seems much harder than nonfiction, but maybe that’s just my inexperience talking).

In the past few weeks, I’ve reached out to a number of experts who have done this longer and better than I have, and they shared some core principles I think you’ll find helpful if you are considering writing fiction or have yet to finish a novel.

So, here goes. Three important lessons on how to begin writing a novel from someone who has never done this before, and is mostly faking his way through it, but with the help of some really smart people:

1. Get a strong story idea

My friend and student, Shaunta Grimes, made me do this. Shaunta has published two young adult novels with Penguin and teaches a popular writing course called A Novel Idea. She encourages her students to start with a strong idea for their novel before they even begin writing.

As boring as this sounded, I decided to commit to it and was surprised at how simple and easy the exercise was – and how it served to guide the writing of the book.

In Shaunta’s free course How to Develop and Test a Story Idea, she advises you decide the following before you write:

Characters: Who is going to be in this story?
Setting: Where and when is this story going to take place?
Situation: What is going to happen to these characters?

Then you put them together in five key plot points that will drive the story. It’s a very simple exercise that leaves you with the basic building blocks of a story you can then turn into a 70,000 to 90,000-word novel.

What is a story?

A story, in its most basic essence, is a cast of characters in a certain setting who experience an unexpected situation. It’s something happening to someone somewhere. Here are some familiar examples:

A young girl moves to the Pacific Northwest after her parents’ divorce because her dad gets a new job. She meets a group of teenagers who end up being vampires.
An orphan gets an invitation to a special school and finds out he is a famous wizard with a powerful nemesis.
A man wakes up on a ship with no memory and learns he is a CIA-programmed assassin. Now he is wanted dead for some reason he doesn’t yet remember.

Takeaway: Before you write, you first need an idea of what your story is going to be about. Good story ideas typically involve putting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and seeing how they rise to the occasion.

Without an idea, you don’t have a story; you just have words on a page.

“Without an idea, you don’t have a story; you just have words on a page.Tweet thisTweet
2. Study your genre

After deciding what my story was going to be about (an uncool teenager, who is new to town and becomes friends with the popular crowd, is forced to decide if being cool is all it’s cracked up to be), I then had to pick a genre.

I think this makes sense to do after you decide your story idea. Unless you’re dead-set on writing a mystery or a horror novel, I think you need to begin with the story itself, then figure out what genre is most suitable for it. There may be some exceptions to this, but for me, it worked best in this order.

Regardless, after you have a story idea and select your genre, you need to study it. I learned this from Tim Grahl and Shawn Coyne, who host the popular Story Grid podcast.

In his book, Shawn is bullish on the importance of genre. Before you get too far into writing anything, you need to get clear on what kind of story this is.

Why? Because “genres have conventions,” he says.

These are the rules of the genre. And each genre has its own set of “obligatory scenes,” as Shawn calls them. Here are some examples:

Action stories have a speech delivered by the villain usually when the hero is at his mercy.
Coming-of-age stories often begin with the death of a loved one or some tragedy that leaves the hero feeling alone.
Fantasies tend to have a guide who dies in the middle of the story and leaves the hero on his own.

How do you find these conventions and obligatory scenes in your genre? You consume a lot of stories.

As for me, I knew my story was a coming-of-age young adult drama, because that’s my favorite kind of story. So what did I do? In the past week, I skimmed every book I could think of and watched a half dozen movies I was already familiar with.

These included: The Perks of Being a Wallfower, The Great Gatsby, The Great Santini, Stuck in Love, Looking for Alaska, To Kill a Mockingbird, Elizabethtown, The Benefits of Caregiving, and many more.

As I read and watched these stories, I took notes, writing down each scene and noticing if something positive or negative was happening to the character. This is something Shawn Coyne teaches – a scene either adds positive energy or negative energy as it contributes to the overall narrative.

You can get deep into genre and spend a lot of time thinking about sub-genre, but be careful not to get lost in the weeds. My friend Kevin, who’s ghostwritten a number of bestselling novels, told it to me like this:

Genre is just a way to guide reader’s expectations. What do you want them thinking when they go into reading your story? Be mindful of that as you write and try not to do anything that would violate their trust.

In other words, you can’t typically write a mystery and use horror conventions. It won’t work so don’t try to force it.

Takeaway: Writing fiction is not just about making up whatever story you want. There are rules and conventions to every genre, and before you get too far into telling your story, decide what the genre is, and therefore, what rules and conventions you are going to follow.

“Writing fiction is not just about making up whatever story you want.Tweet thisTweet
3. Plot out the story

Depending on whom you ask, every story has anywhere from three to twelve, or even one hundred plot points. There are scenes, sections, parts, chapters, themes, beats, and more.

It can be kind of complicated and a tad confusing. But I take great comfort in the simplest version of a story, which looks like this: 1) beginning, 2) middle, 3) end.

The more I studied different story structures, the more overwhelmed I felt. Instead of surrendering to the complexity, I went back to the basics and picked the three main story parts so that I could just start writing it.

I did this by following what Steven Pressfield calls the Foolscap Method, handwriting the story elements on an actual piece of paper. Here’s what I came up with:

Beginning: Hero moves to a new town after parents’ divorce. Meets most popular kid in school and is accepted by him.
Middle: Most popular kid in school dies and leaves hero alone to lead the school. Hero wonders if he has what it takes. So does everyone else.
End: Hero faces school bully and realizes he does have what it takes and that every kid is a little insecure, even the cool kids.

Is this the world’s most interesting story? Of course not. But it’s one I can tell. Why? Because there’s a beginning, middle, and end.

The beginning is where the hero meets the situation that sets the story in motion. This is what Robert McKee and other story experts call the “inciting incident.” Shawn Coyne calls it the Beginning Hook. This is where the story really begins and it must grab the reader.

The middle is where the hero faces all kinds of trials and conflict, where his abilities are tested. The conflict gets worse, and the drama heightens. Coyne calls it the Middle Build, because everything builds in this section, and you wonder if the hero is going to get out of this one alive.

The end is where the story climaxes and the conflict is resolved. It is, in Story Grid language, the Payoff. This is where whatever you promised the reader at the beginning of the story now gets its due. This is where we find redemption, retribution, justice, forgiveness, success, comeuppance, or whatever moral virtue we’re seeking as readers.

And once you have that, you have a story you can keep tweaking, but also one you can start writing, knowing that it’s going to lead somewhere.

Takeaway: Before you can start writing your novel, you must decide where it leads.

“Before you can start writing your novel, you must decide where it leads.Tweet thisTweet
Join me on the journey

I’m not going to lie. This is really hard, and I am really bad at it – worse than I thought I would be. But it’s still fun, and I’m learning a lot. So I hope this helps you.

If you don’t want to miss future lessons and musings on writing fiction from a true newbie, be sure to join my bi-weekly newsletter updates. Also, be sure to check out the links below to other helpful resources.

Recommended resources:

How to Develop and Test a Story Idea
The Story Grid book and podcast
Robert McKee’s STORY

What is your best tip for new fiction writers? Who are your favorite novelists to learn from? Share in the comments.

Old Marketing is Dead: How to Master a Better Kind of Marketing

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Pamela Wilson of Rainmaker Digital and Copyblogger. It is an excerpt from her new book  Master Content Marketing . You can follow Pamela on Twitter and her blog.

Back in 2009, I was sitting where you might be sitting today.

I knew (vaguely) that “content marketing” was the best way to reach people online. But me? Writing content myself? It was laughable.

I was a trained designer. When people approached me for marketing help, I came up with a plan, hired a “real” writer to create the words we needed, and then did all the design work to make their marketing ideas come alive.

I didn’t write — I made other people’s writing look good.

Plus, there were lots of reasons to avoid writing online where anyone could read it.

Loss of privacy: When your name appears as the author of a piece of writing, everyone can see it.
Feeling judged: When your work is out there in public, people may or may not like what you wrote (and they’ll tell you about it!).
Not feeling capable: When you’re first starting out, you lack experience. What if your content isn’t good enough?
Concern it won’t pay off: You might fear that even though you pour your time and energy into this, you won’t see results.

With all these worries rumbling around in my head, I did what anyone would do.

I opened Google. And I searched for “online content.” And guess what site came up? Copyblogger.com.

This was late 2009, just as I was formulating my idea for an online business that would teach marketing and design basics people could apply to their businesses. And since Copyblogger effectively does what I am about to show you, I had stumbled upon one of the top content marketing resources on the web. Copyblogger had been around for years at this point. I should have found it before, but I wasn’t looking for it before!

It was a perfect example of the student being ready and the teacher appearing.

I devoured everything I could on the Copyblogger blog. I even signed up for Copyblogger’s premium course at the time, Teaching Sells. In that class, I discovered how to leverage my professional knowledge by packaging it into an online course and selling it for a profit.

An embarrassing admission…

I’d been working as a traditional marketer for decades at this point. You know how marketing was done traditionally, right? Some people call it “spray and pray.”

You’d blanket a target audience with what amounted to advertising. You hoped (prayed) that a large enough percentage of them would “take the bait” and respond to your offer.

I was one of the people behind those direct mail postcards you’d find in your mailbox. I designed those brochures you were given by the company that wanted your business. I put together the annual report that tried to convince you that you’d made a smart investment. I assembled those magazines that pushed ad after ad for products that companies hoped (prayed) you’d remember when you got to the store.

I created a lot of trash. Oh, it wasn’t trash right away. It served a purpose.

Temporarily.

But once its purpose was fulfilled, off to the landfill it went.

Why? Because none of the traditional marketing I did had any intrinsic value. No one was saving it, bookmarking it, and coming back to it to read it again.

What I discovered very quickly about content marketing was that it was valuable. The first time someone told me, “I’ve saved every newsletter you’ve sent,” I knew I was on to something.

Content marketing was a different — and better — kind of marketing.

Instead of pushing messages out at unsuspecting people, content marketing offers valuable information that people are actively searching for. What a difference!

Why “Spray and Pray” doesn’t work anymore

Everything has changed since my early days as a marketer. When I started, the internet wasn’t even around. Marketing had a handful of avenues where it could reach you:

Your mailbox
Your driveway (in the form of a newspaper)
In stores (as magazines for sale)
In places of business (as flyers, brochures, or printed coupons)
Over the airwaves (in the form of radio and TV advertising)

And that’s about it. Oh sure, there was the occasional blimp floating by, or the person wearing a sandwich board at an intersection. But not much more than that.

Marketing was pushed out at you — whether you liked it or not — in all these places.

You didn’t ask for the direct mail to land in your mailbox. You didn’t want the commercials on the radio. You may have subscribed to the newspapers or magazines, but it was for their content, not their ads.

Let’s look at that last line again:

You may have subscribed to the newspapers or magazines, but it was for their content, not their ads.

From the very beginning, it was content that was considered valuable. It still is. Advertising was (and still is) regarded as a nuisance.

What kind of marketing works now

With the advent of the internet, a seismic shift has happened. Consumers now hold the power during the purchasing process. Instead of waiting to see which ad catches their attention, they go in search of answers. They arm themselves with information so they can make a qualified decision.

And those of us who want to market our products and services serve up the information they’re searching for in the form of readable, friendly content. Our content gives a face to our businesses and establishes a trustworthy relationship by serving as a helpful guide.

Content marketing is like putting out bait rather than throwing a spear.

“Content marketing is like putting out bait rather than throwing a spear.Pamela WilsonTweet thisTweet

Old marketing? It was like throwing marketing “spears” at a school of fish in the hopes you’d hit one. You wasted a lot of energy and didn’t see a lot of results.

Content marketing? It’s like offering some delicious, nutritious bait, and inviting the fish to swim your way. It draws them in. The best part is that some will stay there, interacting with your brand. They’ll become your customers, and then repeat customers.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I know I’d much rather be creating useful information than blanketing people with ads. Wouldn’t you?

From reluctant writer to content marketing teacher

One decision I made early on was to reach out to the owners of websites (like this one!) that were serving an audience that was similar to the one I wanted to serve. This is an effective way to broaden your reach, especially in the early days of your website.

It’s called “borrowing someone else’s audience,” and is otherwise known as guest blogging. Looking back, I’m not sure how I found the courage to approach the team at Copyblogger with a guest post I’d written. At that point, I’d only been writing content for a few months.

But during a concert I attended, I had a moment of divine inspiration that resulted in writing a post I was proud of. So I sent it off to the then-editors of the Copyblogger blog and crossed my fingers and toes while I waited for a reply.

A few days later, when I saw the email in my inbox letting me know they liked my post and planned to publish it, I was overjoyed. When the post was published, it ran with a different headline and some edits to the content. Rather than feel bad about the changes, I noted them and decided to learn from the edits they made. Then I found the courage to send them a second post a couple of weeks later.

This went on for a few months — they’d publish a post, and I’d send them a replacement post. Eventually, I was asked to contribute a post to the Copyblogger blog once a month. Today, I hold the record for the most posts from an outside writer.

We enjoyed working together so much that I was invited to join the team at Copyblogger — now Rainmaker Digital — in 2014.

And just five short years after I submitted by first guest post to the editors at Copyblogger, I began running the editorial team for the Copyblogger blog, which is one of the largest and most respected content marketing resources in the world. Along with our editor and staff writers, I help set the direction for the content we publish every single day.

And I teach content marketing! I believe starting as someone who didn’t consider herself a writer gives me an advantage as a teacher.

Those early days of content marketing weren’t easy. I still remember publishing my first, my fifth, and my tenth blog posts. It was nerve-wracking, and not just because I thought I might make a grammar or spelling mistake. It was because I had no idea how to structure and present my thoughts.

Your content marketing journey

It turns out that once you have a structure to hang your words on, creating content becomes much easier. Once you know how to write and polish the essential elements of a successful piece of content, you’ll be able to create effective content for your business reliably.

And when you combine solid content structure with habits that will help you develop lifelong writing skills? Well, watch out, world!

This is when content marketing becomes fun. Something you’ll look forward to. Something you’ll find yourself thinking about as you go through the paces of your everyday life.

You’ll see a concert, and it will inspire a piece of content. You’ll meet a new business colleague, and a question they ask you will inspire a piece of content. You’ll take a trip, and you’ll come up with the topic for a new piece of content.

Suddenly, the world around you will become living inspiration for the content you’ve got inside you that’s waiting to get out. With the powerful combination of a content structure and reliable content habits, there will be no stopping you.

Taming the content monster with structure and process

But if you haven’t created content before, the thought of building content to attract people to your website might be a wee bit overwhelming, despite my reassurances.

I get it. I’ve been there. Remember, I wasn’t born a writer! And yet, I figured out how to make it easier by applying both structure and process to content creation.

It’s much easier to write content when you break it down into its component parts: headline, first sentence, introduction, subheads, main copy, summary, and call to action. It’s an approach to marketing that writers and non-writers can embrace and use.

The beautiful thing about it? Instead of creating trash, you’re offering treasure. And that’s a great feeling.

What challenges are you facing in spreading your message? How will content marketing help you resonate with your audience? Share in the comments.

128: How to Write a Novel in a Month: Interview with Grant Faulkner

Many people believe they have a novel in them, but they fail to ever write it. They sit on the dream for years and a word never reaches the page. What they don’t realize is getting started is easier than they think.

Last week, after five years of writing non-fiction, I began working on my first novel. The process of becoming a student again has been eye-opening and thrilling.

After signing up through National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), one of my favorite observations is the power of community to propel a creative in their pursuit. Everyone is chasing a common goal and encouraging each other along the way.

This week on The Portfolio Life, the Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, Grant Faulkner, and I talk about leveraging collaboration to fuel creative output, growing to over half a million members, and why writing a novel is like running a marathon.

Listen in as we talk about preparing for a new writing project, how to conduct a “time hunt”, and the life-changing impact of writing a novel in a month.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, Grant and I discuss:

The accidental beginning of a worldwide creative phenomenon
Why community creates powerful momentum for writers
How accountability drives productive writing
Which unconventional trick is the best writing incentive
The parallels between overcoming addiction and creative work

Quotes and takeaways

“Creativity flourishes with other people and in collaboration.” —Grant Faulkner
“Everyone has a story to tell. And everyone’s story matters.” —Grant Faulkner
“Writing a novel is the prize unto itself. That’s the gift you’re giving yourself and the world.” —Grant Faulkner
“Our stories connect us as human beings. They are what make our life rich.” —Grant Faulkner
“Novel writing is largely about building a big structure through small increments.” —Grant Faulkner

“Writing a novel is the prize unto itself. That’s the gift you’re giving yourself and the world.Grant FaulknerTweet thisTweet
Resources

NaNoWriMo.org
No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo founder)
Download the full interview transcript here.

What do you love about new writing projects? Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? Share in the comments.

Why I Started Writing Fiction: The Power of Beginning Again

Last week, I decided to do something I never thought I’d do. I sat down to write a novel. Yes, I’m doing NaNoWriMo, and the lessons to learn from this first novel are surprising.

So this is it. I’m finally writing fiction. I’m doing this for a few reasons, and think you should consider making a few changes as well (more on that in a minute). But here’s why I want to try to write a novel:

Because I want to learn more about storytelling. Learning new skills is really important to feeling energized about the work I do. Even if it means trying and failing.
Because I thought it’d be fun. I love stories and feel like I have something to say, but just the act of getting a story out on “paper” sounded fun, like a release from the seriousness of my current work.
Because I want to prove to myself I can do it. To try something I’m not sure I can accomplish. The challenge of a task so big that I will be required to grow is exciting.

So I’m going to to try writing fiction. But the truth is I’ve been here before — a long, long time ago.

Remember who you are

When I was 10, I tried writing a graphic novel about a character that closely resembled Wolverine from the X-Men. It was the very epitome of “derivative” and the pencil drawings on college-ruled paper bound by bread bag twisty-ties were a far cry from a professional publication. Nonetheless, it was fun.

Around seventh grade, I wrote another book that was a medical thriller based closely around a Robin Cook novel with some pieces of Michael Crichton’s early work thrown in for good measure. Again, derivative… but still fun.

Then when I was out of college, I wrote a short story — about thirty pages (is that a novella?) — about a seafaring wanderer who finds love with one of the natives on a deserted island, and has to fight a giant dragon for the sake of love. Then I gave that story to my girlfriend who became my wife. Also fun and maybe one of the reasons I’m happily married today.

Then, adulthood happened. And I became a semi-successful author and online entrepreneur. The more work I did, the more success I had, and the greater people’s expectations rose. But I longed for the thrill of trying something new, of becoming a student again.

And sometimes, that can be really scary.

Don’t let yourself stagnate

Here’s something many people won’t tell you. The hardest place to be is not where everything you’re doing doesn’t work — the place of failure. That’s an easy place to be. Because if you’re failing, you know you need to keep trying new things. You have to keep moving, because where you are doesn’t work.

The hardest place to be, though, is the place of comfort, where you are successful enough that you’re afraid to risk it all on something that might not work. That’s where I’ve found myself recently. And in this place, creativity dies.

Life is lived best in the place of risk and trust. Things are more thrilling when we are at the edge of what’s possible, beyond what is expected or considered normal. And when we push ourselves to do what we aren’t sure is possible, we grow.

“Life is lived best in the place of risk and trust.Tweet thisTweet

So here is my confession: I’m not sure I can write fiction. But I want to try. It’s like the story about the man who climbed the mountain. When asked why he did it, he said, “Because I wasn’t sure I could.”

This is why just a week ago, I stepped up and said something I never thought I’d say, at least not in the past five years of more serious writing: I’m writing a novel.

Why not give it a try?

Lessons from beginning again

I’m only a week into this new chapter of writing fiction, but here’s what I’m already learning from the experience of beginning again:

1. It humbles you.

In a world of self-proclaimed experts, it’s hard to start over, to admit you need help. It’s a humbling to rely on other people and once again become a student. But with that vulnerability comes an openness and honesty that almost always leads to better work.

So, I’ve been reaching out to friends and experts who know this world far better than I do. The result has been frustrating, enlightening, and interesting (I’ll share more on this soon). I don’t love this feeling of having to start all over, but I’m leaning into it and it’s been a good reminder that I still have a lot to learn.

2. It’s fun.

This is a bigger deal than you may think. If we’re not having fun, we aren’t fully alive. If we are the most successful people in our fields but aren’t enjoying the work we’re doing, then something is wrong. At least for me, it’s only a matter of time before I quit.

3. It’s challenging.

The happiest place for a person to be, according to most modern psychologists, is in the place of “flow,” where what you’re doing is both enjoyable and difficult enough that it requires your best work. Put another way, we thrive as human beings when we do hard things.

Embrace a student’s perspective

The creative life is filled with risk and reward, but sometimes we just need to do something new for the sake of its newness. Not because we’re guaranteed success, but because the worst place an artist can be is stuck. And when we answer that call to begin again, we must remember that community is essential.

So I’m writing a novel. Not because I want to write fiction for a living, but because I’m not sure I can do it. And the newness of this experience is stretching me, forcing me to become a student again, which means I am finding teachers to help guide me.

And here’s the fun part: I’ll be sharing everything I’m learning this month with you. I don’t know what will happen, but I’m committed to the process, to learning and growing and sharing every lessons I collect along the way. I hope it makes me not only a better writer and storyteller, but also a better teacher and guide to this community.

I hope you’ll join me.

“The worst place an artist can be is stuck.Tweet thisTweet
Your turn to try something new

There is an edge to this kind of creative work, the kind that stretches you and forces you to grow. Sometimes, other people don’t understand it; sometimes, even you don’t understand it. But your job is to answer that call anyway, the call to be creative – to try new things even if they don’t succeed.

When we do this, we grow. We become more of the artists and writers and entrepreneurs we aspire to be. We end up doing better and more interesting work, the kind we can be proud to tell our grandkids about.

So wherever you are, today I want to challenge you to try something new. Not because you’ll be great at it, but quite the opposite. Because you may be horrible at it. But enjoy the lack of pressure associated with such an attempt.

There is awesome freedom in the experience of doing something you aren’t expected to be great at. Have fun, take risks, and remember that the ability to try new things is one of the characteristics that makes us human.

“It is in the new that we remember we’re alive.Tweet thisTweet

If you feel stuck, as I have felt in the past, then maybe it’s time to shake things up. Maybe it’s time to write a novel or pick up music lessons. Maybe it’s time to take up cycling or weight lifting, to learn how to swim or play the banjo. I don’t know. But I do know that you weren’t put on this earth to just keep doing the same things over and over again, to never try anything new, to not risk failure.

It is in the new that we remember we’re alive.

What is something new you want to try? What have you learned from becoming a student again? Share in the comments.

Why Even Cats Need to Become Better Writers (and Maybe You Can, Too)

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Pamela Hodges. She writes about art and creativity on her blog and is a regular contributor for The Write Practice. You can follow Pamela on Twitter.

My cat, Pooh Hodges, always wanted to be a writer. His mother told him to study mouse hunting. She didn’t think there was a future as a writer.

“How will you make a living?” she asked him. “You should be chasing mice. You are not a writer. You are a mouser.”

Pooh believed what his mother said. He didn’t believe he could be a writer.

After a near-death experience, when Pooh was lost in the woods of Pennsylvania for three months, he closed his mouse-hunting business and began to pursue his dream of being a writer.

There are several reasons why even cats need to become better writers.

1. To be understood

Even though Pooh took a creative writing class at the university, where he received a degree in mouse hunting, he realized his writing needed to improve.

“I wrote a story about a kitten I helped raise,” Pooh told me once. “In the story, I said I carried the kitten everywhere I went. The other writers in my class thought the kitten was disabled because I carried it all the time. The kitten wasn’t disabled. I carried the kitten because it wanted to be held.”

People might start reading the stories my cat wrote because they think cats are cute. But if my cat doesn’t write his ideas clearly, a reader might stop reading because they don’t understand what the cat is trying to say.

Cats meow, but they are not always understood. The Tribe Writers course helped Pooh develop his writing voice with practical exercises. In lesson 1.6, Hone Your Voice (The Beauty of Brevity),  Pooh learned to avoid filler words and to write more efficiently.

2. To share their worldview

Pooh wanted to help humans understand how a cat thinks, but he did not have the skills to start a blog or build a platform. After hearing me talk about Jeff Goins and Tribe Writers, he decided to study the Tribe Writers course material with me.

This is an excerpt, taken from Pooh’s About page on his blog, The Cat Who Writes:

“I am the cat who writes. I write about the world from a cat’s perspective. Because I am a cat, after all. Would you expect me to write from the perspective of a dog? Silly. Dogs are not as smart as cats.

My name is Pooh. Pooh Hodges, My full name is Winnie The Pooh Hodges. My friends call me Pooh. I spell my name with an H on the end.

I am a writer.

I have had a hard life. Born to a single mother in a back alley in Wisconsin, I never knew my father. My sister died young. I am writing my story. I dictate, and one of my staff types.

My typist, Pamela Hodges, took an eight-week, online writing course, Tribe Writers by Jeff Goins. All she does is talk about Goins. Goins said this. Goins said that. Goins said writing doesn’t have to be lonely. Goins said I can build a community. Goins said I can develop new habits. Goins said to get practical. Goins said find your tribe. Goins said to write in public.

I am taking Goins’ advice and writing in public.”

3. To prove they’re more than just cute

As a cat, Pooh could have tried to rely on his good looks alone. But eventually, readers would have gotten tired of poorly written, vague ideas, and they would have stopped reading his writing, no matter how beautiful his fur was.

Instead, Pooh came running every time he heard Jeff’s voice on the training videos. After each lesson, Pooh applied the principles he learned. He started his own blog, The Cat Who Writes, and he began to write every day, getting better with daily practice and focused learning.

4. To expand their reach

In the third section of Tribe Writers, Expand Your Reach, Pooh learned about the value of guest posting. He listened to Jeff’s advice and became a regular columnist on The Write Practice. Pooh interviewed Jeff Goins for his book The Art of Work; Steven Pressfield for his book Do The Work; and Marion Roach Smith for her book, The Memoir Project.

5. To become published cats

Pooh entered a how-to contest on Problogger in 2013, and won. The skills he learned in the Tribe Writer course helped Pooh show the Problogger readers how to be cats.

The blog post Pooh wrote is now a book on Amazon: How To Be a Cat.

If Pooh had never taken the Tribe Writers course, he would not have started a blog, he would not have helped humans understand cats, and he would not have helped humans become cats.

The first step in becoming a cat is to admit you want to be one. The first step in becoming a better writer is to improve your writing.

Do you want to be a cat like Pooh Hodges? What are you doing to improve your writing? Share in the comments.

127: Deconstructing the Elements of a Successful Conference

There are so many elements of a conference for event organizers to consider. Dates, food, speakers, content, lanyards, and the like. But there is one component that accounts for 50% of an event’s success all by itself.

Location. Location. Location.

One of my favorite venues is The Factory in Franklin, TN. The old brick and steel building features interesting boutiques, a few restaurants, and some of the best pastries you’ll ever eat. The Factory is filled with rustic charm and a rich creative history that pulls you in.

For an event that’s geared towards creatives and writers, the location needs to invigorate the creative spirit.

My vision for Tribe Conference is to design a creative space where people are inspired. In my experience, hotel meeting rooms are not conducive to creativity. I understand the convenience to attendees and organizers alike, but the space needs to spur something on within you.

This week on The Portfolio Life, Andy and I talk about how Tribe Conference has grown and evolved in just two years, and what it takes to “wow” your audience.

Listen in as we discuss big wins from 2016 and how we plan to elevate the experience for attendees even more in 2017.

Listen to the podcast

To listen to the show, click the player below (If you’re reading this via email, please click here).

Show highlights

In this episode, we discuss:

The relationship between location and creativity
What we loved about Tribe Conference 2016
Bringing together a diverse group of creatives
Putting the right people in place to create a great flow
The role of a team in delivering a quality experience
How underpricing an event can be detrimental
Why you may want to scale back your plans to grow

Quotes & takeaways

Give people a space that inspires them.
Things get fun when you start dreaming up how to wow your audience.
Great events aren’t about the people who organize them.
Really great things happen when you bring really great people together.
It’s not always in the best interest of the attendees to make an event bigger.

Resources

Tribe Conference
The Factory
Download the transcript (coming soon)

How has a conference exceeded your expectations? What makes an event memorable? Share in the comments.

Why the World Needs More Patrons Than You May Realize

My first year out of college, I didn’t make any money. Instead, I spent the year traveling across North America with a band. We even spent a short stint in Taiwan. We were huge in Taipei. Moving from city to city, we would play shows in exchange for tips and often a free meal.

No matter where we went, we always met a well-intentioned family who swore their casserole was the world’s greatest hot dish. And so it went. For an entire year, we lived off the generosity of other people, staying in their homes and eating their casseroles.

Everything we did that year cost something. The gas for the van. The meals on the road. The occasional night in a hotel when we couldn’t find a host home. It all had to be paid for by someone.

But that year, my six bandmates and I didn’t have to worry about that. Because there were people who were concerned about those things for us. They paid our bills and took care of our expenses so that we could focus on playing music. These were our manager and booking manager, as well as those incredible people who took us into their homes.

There is a word for such a person. It’s an old concept, and although we don’t use the term too often today, the idea endures. The term we might use to describe a generous person who provides for the livelihood of an artist is an unfamiliar one but it shouldn’t be. Because wherever we look, these people are all around us.

What do you call such a person who pays for the livelihood of an artist?

A patron, of course.

The richest artist of the Renaissance

In one of his poems, the Renaissance artist Michelangelo, renowned for his frugality and simple living, complained that his art had left him “poor, old and working as a servant of others.” A recent discovery, however, reveals that Michelangelo might not have been telling the truth.

In the mid-1990s, an art professor at the University of Syracuse in Florence named Rab Hatfield stumbled upon two previously unknown bank accounts held by the famous Italian artist. He discovered a fortune worth what would be nearly $47 million USD, in effect making Michelangelo not only the richest artist of his time, surpassing the wealth of contemporaries such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, but one of the richest artist the world has ever seen.

We are used to telling a story about art and money that has endured for years. We tend to pit creative genius against financial, as if the two cannot coexist. We even have terms like “starving artist” and “sellout” to reinforce this tension.

As a writer, I am prone to such a dichotomy myself, believing that commercially successful work and meaningful creations are mutually exclusive. But what if that weren’t true? What if the image of the starving artist slaving away at his creations without pay was almost always a myth?

What if art and money have maintained a relationship that goes back to the very beginning of time? Would that change the way we approach both art and money?

A third way

There is, I think, a felt need to resolve this tension between doing work that matters — what we might more broadly think of as “art” — and making a living.

It’s easy to polarize these as opposites. When we see a fringe musician achieve phenomenal success and then seemingly alter the style of her music, we say that person has “sold out.” We long for the more innocent days of her purer art, when she wasn’t tempted or tainted by riches.

But is this always the effect when art and money collide? Or are the two more closely related than we would like to believe?

In every era of human history, artists have had to confront the issue of how they will earn a living. Will they resign themselves to a bohemian lifestyle, wallowing in squalor while hoping to create work that endures? Or will he give in to the temptations of commercial enterprises, mass producing work that is popular but ultimately unimportant?

Maybe there is a third way.

I want to argue that every artist, and by that I mean anyone who offers a meaningful contribution to the world, needs a patron. Some will be lucky enough to discover a generous benefactor to pay their bills, while others will find supportive communities to fill such a role. And even others will find ways to become their own patron, as Michelangelo did.

“Patrons do not just make the arts possible. They make the world we inhabit possible.Tweet thisTweet
What is an artist?

An artist is anyone who does meaningful creative work and struggles with the tension between doing something important and something that pays the bills. Those of us who want to make a difference with our vocations, at some point, have to grapple with how we pursue personal mastery of a skill and still buy groceries.

What is a patron?

Patrons, though we often don’t recognize them, are all around us. The publisher who pays an author an advance before her book sells a single copy is a patron. But so is the venture capitalist who funds a startup in Silicon Valley before the company turns a profit or the church who pays a pastor’s salary so he can focus on the ministry.

Every time we launch Tribe Writers, people step forward to purchase the course for someone else. Sometimes it’s a spouse supporting their partner’s writing dream. Sometimes it’s a friend who knows a struggling author who needs help getting over a hurdle. And sometimes, it’s a stranger who anonymously offers a scholarship because they believe in the value of creative work pursued in service of others.

Patrons do not just make the arts possible. They make the world you and I inhabit — and so often take for granted — possible. If you aspire to create something of value and share it with the world, you are going to need a patron. And in due time, the world may need you to become one.

Who has served as a patron in your creative life? How have you been a patron for others or yourself? Share in the comments.