Organize. Write. Success! Wk 3

We’re in Week 3. Just to recap, you should have:

1. Gotten a real handle on what you’re doing with your time, examined your schedule for at minimum one to a few days and perhaps made notations on where you could shift some time or move something.

2. Decided what’s really important, if writing (or remember, insert whatever project you want to tackle here) is important as you say it is, why does time devoted to it not appear anywhere in your current schedule?

3. Are there any tools, technology or even people that make this work for you, that you might delegate to, etc. Have you asked?

4. Finally, some of Week Two was about brain “dumping”. Getting EVERYTHING out of your head… partial projects, ideas, just get them down on paper to clear the clutter.

Now, Week 3 is about examining WHY you want to do what you say you want? AND WHAT you need to do/know, in order to do what you want.

Click for the Week 3 Worksheet.

I personally think there is always a larger problem to doing whatever it is we want to do. That first, is our WHY. The reasons must be convicting and strong and secondly, our KNOW HOW may be deficient in some areas we need and that usually requires consulting with others or additional learning to be obtained before we can move forward.

1. WHY – List ten TEN good reasons WHY you want to do this? I’m going to limit you to two soul/emotional reasons like “love of it”, “personal joy/fulfillment” that’s great and those can be considered those “heart palpitating” reasons WHY. The other eight reasons gotta be solid. If you had to defend the 8 reasons WHY you want to do something would you win the case?

2. Ask yourself the following tough questions about your reasons “WHY?”

   1. Do I believe this it truly what I want?

   2. Am I certain this is because I want to and not because it’s expected of me or I’m trying to be like someone else?

   3. Can I handle what others will say about this and whatever they say is the most awful, detrimental thing I could ever hear and STILL have passion/purpose/drive around this project? (Here’s a tip: go ahead and make up worst care scenario, why, if you put it all out there now, it will seen less scary if it were to present it self to you).

   4. What will motivate me through the tough times of tackling this project (AND IT cannot be money – profit margins often are NOT reached in the first few years no matter what you do). Your motivation and stick-to-it-iv-ness has got to be more pulling than financial gain.

   5. Finally, ask yourself, when will I know I’m making progress? AND What will be the signs to change my course or to give up? You have to know your two points, measuring success/progress and when is the breaking point to signal the end. Of course you will pray that you never get to that point but you’ll also want some ideas of when you will save yourself from difficult consequences, especially when it comes to your physical and mental health and your finances.

   6. Bonus: You might want to also a SWOT analysis or SMART goal for your project. The more you can really map out what you want to do, the better you and your stamina will fare.

Part Two:

Next, lets examine WHAT DO I KNOW? VS. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW and WHO CAN HELP ME?

I’ll use just seven areas, but note there may be more or less. I’m obviously using writing a story/publishing a book as a subject throughout this five week course.

1. Writing the Book – includes story development (character, GMC, hook, story lines, etc.) and time for writing and researching things you need for the storyline

2. Editing the Book – self edit, professional editing by a freelance editor; will you have Beta Readers or critique partners provide additional feedback/input on your work

3. If you will go through a Traditional Publisher or Seek Agent Representation

   1. If you will use a traditional publisher or find an agent – who will it be? How do you submit to them? Who is buying what you write?

   2. How many will you submit to?

4. IF you will self publish – Formatting the Book  – includes the correct formats to be able to print, read via ebook

5. Publishing the Book (for self publishers)- includes uploading the book to different platforms – What platforms will you make use of? What platforms are there?

6. Marketing the Book  – everything to get the book “out there” to the market from website/social media, mailing list to advertising, press releases, SWAG such as bookmarks, pens, postcards, t-shirts or mugs….what/how will you spread the word about your product offer

   Do you know enough to do this yourself or will get support/help, outsource? What are the most effective means of marketing a book? This particular segment may seem premature but it’s often a step people think about too late. You should think about marketing aspects early on as when the book comes out can be too late if you’ve not thought about what you’ll do.

   Will you travel? Where? Do you have a larger platform to be had besides just books – such as speaking/workshops and etc.?

7. Setting Up an LLC or other type of company

   1. How will you handle accounting – will you do that yourself or outsource

   2. Note you can do business as yourself under your own name – is that what you will do?

In all of these areas, it is so important to really know what you DON’T know and begin a path toward gaining/obtaining that knowledge. Think of it as filling in the blanks. You have some of it or you wouldn’t even be considering this venture all. Breaking down these into more manageable bites will be key to your success. Can you break down your own project into 7 chunks and ask your self different one to three questions about each one that need to be solved?

If you’re feeling ambitious, why not attach a name, company or website to each of the numbers that list possible suggestions for:  Who HAS the knowledge I seek? Think of it like assigning a project, when you’re at a meeting, you have action items and even if the person does not have the knowledge outright they can probably point you to someone that does.

I kid you not, if you’re really taking time to do all this work, WATCH things kind of just fall in place unexpectedly. Things will show up, what you need will reveal itself and your way will become clearer. It will happen.

Don’t forget this weeks Worksheet.

See you next time for Week Four.