So far, we’ve talked about some big goals that can change your life, and the lives of others as well. We’ve mentioned writing a book, joining a writing group, making more money, and mentoring another writer.

Today, on this final episode in the series, I’m challenging you to stop settling for average in 2023.

What do I mean by this?

Most writers settle for average: an average-quality book, average marketing, average energy, average success, an average peer group, and so on. We settle for average because we get used to it. It takes a lot of energy to recognize how average your life is and then be willing to change elements of it in order to be more successful.

I’m not suggesting that you burn down your whole life. It’s actually much simpler, and it starts with one decision: to get around the right type of people who are dreaming, thinking, planning, and executing on a higher level.

It’s pretty hard to manufacture enthusiasm and energy on your own. It’s much easier to do it when you’re “running with the horses,” to use a phrase from the Bible.

As you might have guessed, I’m going to mention the Daily Writer Club, a group that is designed to help you achieve more as a writer and build your writing-based business. We have a remarkable group of people there, and we’d love to have you join us. You can check it out at https://dailywriterclub.com.

When you settle for average, you get average results. Will 2023 be the year you finally start to pursue your writing dreams and reach for something higher?

Today’s Challenge: Stop accepting average and commit to growing more than you thought possible this year.

The post New Year’s Goal: Stop Settling for Average in 2023 appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

In this series, we’ve talked about ten ways to make money as a writer:

1. Book sales
2. Freelance writing
3. Ghostwriting
4. Editing & publishing services
5. Speaking
6. Coaching
7. Courses
8. Products
9. Membership & masterminds
10. Affiliate marketing

These aren’t the only ways to make money as a writer, of course, but these are ten of the most common ones.

Now that you’ve heard about them, what’s next? How do you get started?

While you may want to eventually make money with all of these income streams eventually, you can’t put them all into practice right now. I suggest that you reach for the low-hanging fruit first—meaning the easiest options. For most writers, that is probably going to be doing freelance writing or ghostwriting, plus getting some book sales.

If you’re getting started with making money as a writer, I’d recommend the following course of action over the next 90 days. Choose one, two, or all of them.

1. Start working on a very short book you can complete and publish in three months. Shoot for about 20,000 words or 120 pages or so. A short book will validate you as a writer and give you immediate credibility.
2. In the meantime, tell people in your network that you’re building a writing business and you’re available to write blog posts, social media posts, podcast show notes, or other short-form content. Create a sheet with your pricing options and make this easily available. Do a bit of work for free in order to get a testimonial and referral, then build on that momentum as you get more paid work.
3. Become an affiliate for a couple of products or services that you love. Then, start promoting those to your email list and other places. If you don’t yet have an email list, it’s time to get started. I recommend ConvertKit.

If you get to work immediately and take consistent, daily action on just these three items, within three months you are almost certain to have some income from writing. It will be slow at first, but keep at it and you will succeed over time.

Question: Which of the three steps I’ve mentioned are you willing to commit to over the next 90 days?

The post Making Money as a Writer: How to Get Started appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

I understand that memberships and masterminds are two different things, but they are similar in many ways, which is why I’ve lumped them together in this episode. The main idea of both of these is that people have access to you on some type of ongoing basis. They are paid products that have a barrier to entry in the form of a payment. By definition, it means that people are generally more serious about growth and learning because they have to pay more than they would for a book.

Now don’t get me wrong, we should offer free help. This podcast, as well as my blog posts and free Daily Writer Starter Kit guides, are my main ways of offering free, helpful content. But if people want to grow, they need to have some skin in the game. The way they show they are serious is if they pay for access.

Memberships and masterminds can have all kinds of different structures. But in general, a membership is a group that has a recurring monthly charge and offers resources, courses, calls, and community interaction. A mastermind is a higher-level group where you have more access to the leader, and you are actively adding value to the other group members to help each other succeed in specific areas.

I currently offer a membership, the Daily Writer Club, which you’ve heard me promote before. I’m also getting ready to launch a higher-level Daily Writer Elite Mastermind in March. I love offering these paid experiences because I know that when people invest in themselves, they will accelerate their success.

A membership or mastermind might be something you should consider, as well. Think about the different types of value you could add to others and if people would be willing to pay for ongoing resources or access to you in these types of formats. You might be surprised how much you enjoy running them and helping your fans and readers in a more direct way.

Question: What specific ways could you help people be more successful by offering a membership or mastermind?

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Your creative mind works the same way. It can’t just receive ideas and then cause those ideas to sprout. Your mind must be prepared. So how do you “till” your mind, so to speak? How do you prepare your mind not only to receive ideas, but also create an environment for them to grow and flourish?

There are perhaps many answers, but the most important one is getting into an environment that encourages growth and creativity. Join a mastermind. Create a community. Go out with some positive and creative people for coffee. Start a club. Make social media posts about creative ideas and ask for feedback. Write blog posts and make videos and engage with people who comment.

It is impossible to prepare the soil of your mind by yourself. It is essential to be in an environment that encourages new ideas and creative thinking.

When you consistently do this, the seeds of great ideas and effective writing will have an opportunity to grow into something meaningful.

Question: How are you preparing your mind to receive new ideas?

The post Preparing: Till the Soil of Your Mind appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Let’s talk about one of the hardest truths to swallow. Here it is: the circle of relationships that brought you to where you are is not the circle of relationships that will take you to where you want to be.

Most of us don’t like conflict. We don’t want to feel like we’re leaving others behind. This fact alone prevents a lot of people from growing because they are not willing to make tough changes to their personal and professional relationships.

You’ve probably heard about what happens in a crab basket. When you put a bunch of crabs in a basket, and one tries to crawl out, the others pull him back in. Most social and professional circles work the same way. Whenever you try to grow or improve, the people around you who don’t want to grow will try to discourage you. They may not do so directly, but they will express doubt that your plans or dreams are realistic. People will try to keep you in the crab basket of mediocrity in all kinds of ways.

Let me get personal for a moment. Once I had been teaching college for 12-13 years, I knew there was something more I wanted. I didn’t want to do that job forever because the context of our tiny college was very limiting. We had a small number of students, my salary was very limited, and there was zero potential for either one of those numbers ever increasing.

I was very friendly with the people I worked with. I still consider most of them to be friends. But none of them had any intentions of building a business. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, and they are wonderful people. But I knew that if I wanted to build a business, I had to start spending time around people who thought and dreamed bigger, and who were doing the kinds of things I wanted to do.

So, I started getting involved in mastermind groups and communities. I started taking courses and investing in myself. I started doing freelance work. I started podcasting and writing my own books. Most of the people in my day job didn’t know what to think of this because it wasn’t in their DNA to build something of their own.

I’m not talking about denying the value that some people have had in your journey. You can be grateful for a season or a phase in your life and recognize its value, while at the same time also understanding that you need to have a different focus moving forward. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Life is a journey, and if you’re not willing to let go of some things, you won’t have room in your heart and mind for the people and things that you need to carry with you going forward. It doesn’t mean that those relationships were not important, and that you can’t still be friends. It just means that you are going in a different direction in life, and you will be spending the bulk of your time and energy around people who have the same goals as you do.

This is a very difficult thing to do. You have to do a real gut-check because it means some people in your life won’t agree with your direction, and you will not fit into your old social circles and old ways of thinking. So be prepared for that.

One more thing about all this: there will be some people who see what you’re doing and will want to join you. Make sure to make time and energy for those people who are curious about your new direction and find ways to help them.

Daily Question: Are you willing to let go of some relationships in order to make room for new ones that are more in line with your new direction in life, writing, and business? Be honest.

The post The Art of Letting Go appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

Everyone who has ever planted anything knows that you can’t just throw seeds on the ground. You must prepare the soil. Otherwise, the soil won’t be ready to receive the seeds. The seeds will die and all the effort and future potential will have been wasted.

Your creative mind works the same way. It can’t just receive ideas and then cause those ideas to sprout. Your mind must be prepared. So how do you “till” your mind, so to speak? How do you prepare your mind not only to receive ideas, but also create an environment for them to grow and flourish?

There are perhaps many answers, but the most important one is getting into an environment that encourages growth and creativity. Join a mastermind. Create a community. Go out with some positive and creative people for coffee. Start a club. Make social media posts about creative ideas and ask for feedback. Write blog posts and make videos and engage with people who comment.

It is impossible to prepare the soil of your mind by yourself. It is essential to be in an environment that encourages new ideas and creative thinking. When you consistently do this, the seeds of great ideas and effective writing will have an opportunity to grow into something meaningful.

The post Preparing: Till the Soil of Your Mind appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

There are many keys to your success as a writer and author. Writing a great book is an important part of it, but there are other important things as well. One of those components is book marketing, which can seem like an intimidating and mysterious part of your business as a writer.

While there can definitely be a lot of moving parts to marketing, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture, which is serving and connecting with readers. On today’s episode, I want to share a recent call from our Daily Writer Community.

One of our members is Vincent Pugliese, who is the author of the fantastic book, Freelance to Freedom. He also is the creator and leader of the amazing Total Life Freedom Community, a membership group that has had a radical impact on my mindset and success over the last couple of years. I can tell you unequivocally that I would not have been able to build a business and leave my day job without the encouragement of this community, particularly Vincent’s.

One of the reasons Vincent is so successful as an entrepreneur and coach is that he looks at things differently. He approaches life and business with a generous mindset. On this call, he shares how he approaches book marketing through the lens of generosity. Not only does this take the pressure off of marketing your book in a sleazy way… it’s also a lot more fun!

This is a community call, so you’ll hear others speaking on the call, in addition to myself and Vincent. In the show notes for this episode, you’ll find Vincent’s links, in addition to a link for an episode he did on his Total Life Freedom podcast. That episode is “Becoming a Non-Bestselling Author,” and I highly encourage you to give it a listen. It’s a critical perspective for every writer.

Click on the links below to connect with Vincent, purchase his book, or listen to his podcast:

TotalLifeFreedom.com

Freelance to Freedom by Vincent Pugliese

The Total Life Freedom Podcast

Podcast Episode: Becoming a Non-Bestselling Author

Connect with Vincent on LinkedIn

Connect with Vincent on Facebook

Follow Vincent on Instagram

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