Lessons from Launching a Book [Part 1]
Episode Summary:
Welcome to this episode of the Heart Centered Entrepreneur podcast! I’m 10 days into promoting my upcoming book and I cannot believe that a hundred of you have already signed up to get early access to read it. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode about how you can get involved with the book launch, pause this episode and do that first! Because today's episode is going to go a little bit deeper into writing the book. If you have writing a book on your heart, I hope that some of these tips are useful for you.
Discussed in this episode:
What freedom means to Anna and the encouragement to continue doing the work if you’re just starting your business
How to create intrinsic motivation for yourself when you’re working on things in your business that are important but not urgent
When to lean into masculine and feminine energy throughout your book writing process and how to hold yourself accountable
All of the good things that came from including Anna’s audience in the book launch process
Episode Resources:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Stitcher
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** This is a raw, unedited transcript.
Anna Rapp (00:00):
Welcome to this episode of the Heart Centered Entrepreneur podcast. I cannot believe that a hundred of you have already signed up. I'm 10 days into promoting early access to the book, and a hundred of you have already said yes to read it <laugh>. And I'm just really thankful. I think like when I started this business seven years ago, I would, I don't know, I'm just feeling emotional. They really grateful. My son is actually home from from school today. He was like, Mom, I'm not feeling good. I wanna stay home. And usually I don't, but I just let him stay home and it's just been the sweetest day. You know, he's playing Legos in the other room and we got to have a special time and make lunch together. And I was like. Like this is why I did it. This is why I did those first hard challenging two years of business is to get to this place of having ultimate freedom, right?
Anna Rapp (00:48):
We can all use our freedom for different things. Maybe for you it's traveling the world. For me, freedom means always being a mama. Honestly, Like being a mama is my number one job. <Laugh>. I love being a mama so much, but I also love working. I love to, to help women. That fuels me. That makes me a better mama because I can, you know, come back to them lit up and fueled and more patient for them. And I just think about the women generations to go that didn't have this option. I feel like the online business world, whether you're serving your clients and you're a coach, you're a done for you service provider, right? Has really made it possible for us to have both, that we can, you know, honor ourself and our core values in our life. For me, it's showing up and being a great present mama to my kids.
Anna Rapp (01:35):
And we can also be fulfilled as a woman in our passion in our career. And I am just so thankful for that. So thankful to the version of myself that went all in on my business and created this because I honestly kind of did it not knowing, I was like, I have a hunch that this is what I wanna do, but like, I really loved my therapy day job, You know? So I just wanna say to you, if you're like still working on the building stage of your business, not yet making six figures like it, it really is. It is all it's cracked up to be an even then some like, it really is such a gift, such a blessing. And I'm just so thankful, so thankful that I took the risk to do it. Anyway, and I also just wanna say that I'm so thankful to have you here.
Anna Rapp (02:15):
Honestly, I would've never dreamed how good of a community. I think I had a lot of fears around like putting myself out there online, like stranger Danger, <laugh>. But it really, I mean, you guys really are the best, most cozy community. You guys are incredible. And I could not have done not just my business, but honestly the past seven years of my life. Without you, I never would've dreamed that I would've been able to build my business to multiple six figures with the, the cl the level of clients that I have in the mastermind. Their heart, they integrity is just, it's incredible. So anyway, all this to say, biggest thank you to you and just so excited that you're with me on this book writing journey. Now we get to write a book together. You guys especially thankful to you that those of you have signed up to early access because you can read it, you can give me feedback before it launches live into the world.
Anna Rapp (03:01):
If you have not yet signed up for book club, make sure you do that asap because after this early access period, I'm gonna, you know, close things down until next year. So it'll be a little while until the book goes public. But I'm so passionate about this topic and it is creating a 20 K freedom fund because in addition to building a business I do feel like the business gave me a lot of freedom and flexibility, but I don't feel like it was just the business. I feel like it was the business giving me the ability to generate the cash flow, to create a cash reserve, a 20 K freedom fund. That ga that gave me really that feeling of ultimate freedom. And of obviously like I impact that in the whole book and how I feel like it truly changed my life and I feel happier and more peaceful than I ever have before.
Anna Rapp (03:49):
And so if you have a business and if you are making money, but you're not feeling financially free and peaceful, you especially wanna check this out, right? I remember that moment in my life. I remember it super distinctly and I remember thinking like, I need to get more control over my finances, right? I'm making money, but somehow I don't feel in control of my finances. I don't feel financially peaceful. I don't know if this is possible, but I remember like having this thought, I'm gonna keep trying things till I figure out what's the thing that is going to give me that financial piece. I tried
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Downloading like 10 different budgeting softwares. I tried firing my book, I tried a lot of things that did not work, <laugh>. So I'm so excited to give you the shortcut.
Anna Rapp (04:30):
And it really is creating a 20 K freedom fund for yourself. I recommend you have one for your personal life, a savings, but also for your business, literally 20 k in your business money. That is in the corporate world. They call this a cash reserve. But this allows you to be taking home the same amount of money every month, even if your business is going up and down, right? So please sign up for the book. It's a short book. It's a quick read, it's a power read. I think your jaw is gonna drop when you read this. It's gonna be a little game changing, mind blowing. I loved the feedback that my editor had
Speaker 2 (05:04):
For me as she was reading it. She was like, I already started integrating some of the principles. I was like, Girl, you just made my day. Because
Anna Rapp (05:11):
You know, as you write a book, you're like, Is this good enough?
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Does this make sense?
Anna Rapp (05:14):
You know? But I'm just so excited to have it come together. And honestly, my back is recommendation. If you write a book or you want to write a book is like include people on the journey. Cuz otherwise it can be really lonely, right? Because you know, as a business owner, you're balancing front end urgent projects like caring for your clients, launching and selling your current stuff with more back end projects. Like maybe like updating your systems hiring team, launching a podcast, writing a book, things that are good and profitable moves, but like long term profitable moves. And so when things are important but not urgent, it just takes a lot more intrinsic motivation. And that's actually what I wanna talk to you about today on the podcast, is how to create intrinsic motivation for yourself in your business when you're working on things that are important but not urgent.
Anna Rapp (06:03):
Cuz I think it's a huge skill as you grow your business, is to create a lot of people say like, Anna, how do you, how do you become more disciplined? Right? I don't really think necessarily that discipline is the answer, but I think it's like, how can you set yourself up with systems that keep you motivated or keep you in action, right? Because that's the goal of motivation. The goal of mindset is just to make us take action, right? And so stop beating yourself up over like feeling motivated and just ask yourself, how do I get myself to take more action? And I'm gonna give you some practical tips on how to do that. Because today, today's episode is gonna be a little bit deeper into writing the book. If you have a book, writing a book on your heart, I hope that some of these tips are useful for you.
Anna Rapp (06:46):
And then next week I wanna talk about launching the book and marketing the book so far and kind of my lessons there. If you have on your heart to write a book, whether it's a short book, maybe it's like a short book, you know, my book right now is about 70 pages. Maybe you wanna write a 50 page book, maybe you wanna write a 400 page book. But I think that there's something special about writing a book. I really do. And I want you to say yes out loud right now. If you have a book on your heart, say it out loud. Yes, I want to write, I wanna write a book, I wanna tell my story I wanna teach, right? Maybe you don't even quite know what it's gonna be on, but you know that there's a book on your heart. Own it, own it.
Anna Rapp (07:25):
And then open up a Google block and start brain dumping. I really wrote my book in two phases. Phase one was the dump, the brain dump. If you guys do my daily check in my mindset work that I recommend, you guys know this is a part of this, right? Just coming to a blank screen and being able to write from our heart. In this version of the book writing, I recommend that you don't filter, you don't edit, you don't overthink it. And this might sound a little controversial and anti what I say about other things in your business, but I think when it comes to a book, you shouldn't force yourself to write if you don't want to. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I think you should give yourself a break. I think you should go take a walk. I think you should wait until you're inspired.
Anna Rapp (08:08):
But when you're inspired, I think you should write, write, write, right, right, right. <Laugh>, I sometimes would have sessions where I would write for three hours in a row if I had like a free evening or something and I really felt inspired, right? And I would just like be like, Okay, I'm gonna be tired the next morning, but I'm feeling it, you know, that moment of feeling in the flow. So honoring that flow time as much as you can and just getting that book out. And there was a point where I felt like I think the book is close to being done. You know, I think we never get that feeling of it, of it quite being finished. Like, is my book good enough? But I felt this part in my heart that felt like I was done with the dumping and it was time to shift into editing, right?
Anna Rapp (08:49):
I knew this because I kind of felt like I was starting to like overthink things or I was going back in and over editing. I love Greg McAllen's book on called Effortless. He talks about like how a lot of times we sabotage, not by underperforming, but by overperforming or overthinking. So then I got to, I really kind of put a line in the sand and said like, Ooh, okay, now it's time to edit. Okay. So what I did at that point is I shifted into less of the inspired writing and more into the scheduled tasks, right? And I really started so my biggest advice for you, if there's any task in your business that you're avoiding, but that you need to do like maybe your bookkeeping or something like that, right? Is to make it tiny, make it specific and make a milestone. Write that down, okay?
Anna Rapp (09:36):
Make it tinier, make it more specific and add a milestone. We often make things much bigger than they need to be cuz we need to get it done or we're behind or we feel guilty that we haven't done it yet. But that's not the way <laugh> the ways to make it easier and smaller and more doable, right? And, and also to make it a really specific thing, right? Like I need to go into my bookkeeping software and you know, categorize 10 transactions and I'm gonna do this tomorrow morning before my yoga class, right? For me in the book, I made a lot of milestones that were very made up, okay, <laugh>. Cause I just love a milestone. So I would tell myself, Okay Anna, I'm gonna read it through one more time and then I'm gonna print it. And then I printed it and put the pages all over my floor.
Anna Rapp (10:23):
And then I was like, I'm gonna read it through one more time on the printed page and then I'm going to submit it to my editor by this date, right? And I told my editor, I'm gonna give it to you by this date. Did I really need to give it to her by that date? No. But once I told her that I was gonna do it, right? So I paid her and I told her, I'm gonna get it to you by this state, right? Did I actually need to print it out? I mean, yes, it was nice to see the words on the paper, but it was less about that and more about me just like having something to do, right? Like, I'm gonna read through and then I'm gonna print it. Yay, we get to print, I'm gonna do this. Right? And so I think like, and I also did a lot of like, okay, I'm gonna, you know, I, once I got it edited, I knew I had like a few more pieces I wanted to write in.
Anna Rapp (11:03):
So I was like, okay, I'm gonna write these two pieces and then I'm gonna put 'em in right before I go to yoga class, right? And so for me, the energy shifted a little bit and I think if you can segment it in that way, it can be really helpful instead of in the first part, forcing yourself to be more segmented or masculine in your energy or structured. And the second part being okay, if you don't feel flowy or creative, you know, it's a little bit less sexy and exciting. And so <laugh> not making yourself wrong, that I wasn't in the mood to reread my work. I wasn't in the mood to edit, right? But I just did it anyway because I was leaning into that more structured masculine side. And then in the first part I was really leaning into that feminine, creative, flowy side, right?
Anna Rapp (11:50):
And so that was really useful for me. And then again, just having like, so much support, honestly, it made the world of a difference knowing that you guys were in my corner <laugh>. So if you can involve your audience, and even if you don't have a big audience, I don't care if you have 10 people watching, involve them. Not just for them, but for you. Okay? Here's the secret. Yes, <laugh>, I involved you because I love you and I care about you, but I also involved you because I needed you. I really need you guys, right? I need to know like writing a book is vulnerable and I really needed you in my corner. I feel like, you know, for your audience, I give to you guys a lot. I give to you guys a lot of free trainings and support and value, right?
Anna Rapp (12:33):
But sometimes it's okay to take, right? And one thing I feel like I'm taking from you right now is your support. Like, I need the accountability, the motivation, because I have told you I am getting my book to you by this date. I had to backtrack and say, Okay, Anna, you have to have the the edits done by this. Then okay, then you have to have the illustrations done by this then, then you have to do it like having my audience expect the book from me. Biggest gift, biggest gift. And then also to hear all the positive and kind cheerleading and encouragement. And then also knowing that like, before I release this to the big public next year, I get your guys' eyes on it, right? Like, I know you're gonna be loving and supportive and you're gonna be honest with me. If something doesn't make sense, I hope that you tell me, right?
Anna Rapp (13:19):
If something needs to be switched, if there's a mistake, I want you to tell me. Right? and so it's kind of comforting knowing that I'm gonna make this book book as good as possible before my early readers get it. But guess what? It's not gonna be perfect, right? And there's some piece in that, right? Instead of, I think when we publish a book, it feels so final and we feel like it, it just feels like this lonely process. I feel like what I've done now is number one, let myself finish the book without making it feel like it has to be this perfect masterpiece. And then also when I do go to launch the book next year, which I'm already a little bit nervous about <laugh> I don't have to do it alone. I don't have to do it alone. Like I literally have a hundred of you by my side saying I'm standing with you and releasing to this, this book to the world <laugh>.
Anna Rapp (14:09):
And I know that sounds silly, but I can't tell you how good that feels. I can't tell you how good it feels knowing that I have your support and that you're here with me and beside me and doing this, that we get to do it together as a community makes it feel so special. So my advice to you is to use humans and deadlines. Like decide who's gonna edit your book and tell them when they'll edit it by and pay them money <laugh>. That way you can work backwards and figure it out. Tell your early readers whether you have 10 readers or a hundred early readers, It doesn't matter, but tell them the date, which width you are going to give them that book. Because guess what, if you're anything like me, there's no way I'm not gonna give, give you guys that book on time, right?
Anna Rapp (14:53):
<Laugh>. And so it's great pacing and motivation and what it does too is it makes something that doesn't otherwise have a deadline. It makes it have a deadline, right? Because there are people expecting it which I think is beautiful. Okay, I hope this was useful for you as you guys are writing your own books and or as you're thinking about writing a book. So you're probably in the season of that feminine writing creative flow. So give yourself permission to either open up a Google Doc or return to your Google Doc that you've already started brainstorming in and keep writing, keep writing, give yourself that permission. And I feel like, like I feel like there's probably several of you that have a book on your heart, but you're not giving yourself time or space or permission to write. So make that a priority. I think there's nothing more special that we can give than our story, than our te teaching, than our tips.
Anna Rapp (15:50):
Of course, you guys know I love the podcast, I love social media, but I think there is something powerful about writing. There's something powerful about writing, okay? I, again, make sure that you connect with me asap if you wanna be added to book team, early access book team and then also connect with me if I would love for you to tell me if you have a book on your heart, I just wanna hear so I can be cheering for you behind the scenes. Tell me what your book is on, tell me all the things. I would love to hear it. Okay. Tune in next week or I'm gonna talk about the launching and how to get your audience excited about and onboard with your book project, or whatever it is that you're launching or selling in your business right now. Stay tuned.
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