Episode 2

Overcoming Mediocre Marketing

Want to overcome mediocre marketing? Join Joshua Maddux has he talks with Andrea Susan Glass this week on In The Bunker Podcast.

Our episode highlights:

  • Diversifying to overcome the inconsistency

Bio: Andrea Susan Glass is an award-winning ghostwriter and book coach for first-time nonfiction authors. For more than 20 years, she's ghostwritten dozens of books and copyedited hundreds of nonfiction books. As a book coach she's guided countless new authors to write and publish their book, some to bestseller status. Andrea is a long-time instructor for the University of California, teaching classes in the creative writing and copyediting certificate programs. She wrote the bestselling book, "Your Fabulous First Book: How to Write with Clarity, Confidence & Connection" to guarantee that new authors would have all the essential preparation to write their own fabulous first book. She’s followed that up with “My Fabulous First Book: A Workbook Companion to Your Fabulous First Book”. Learn more about Andrea and her book coaching programs at https://www.AndreaSusanGlass.com

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Transcript
Joshua Maddux:

Welcome to in the bunker today, we have Andrea Susan Glass in

Joshua Maddux:

the bunker with us today, Andrew was faced with a challenge of inconsistency

Joshua Maddux:

in leads, clients and income.

Joshua Maddux:

If you own a business and run a business, you've probably ran into

Joshua Maddux:

this same problem as most new business owners and even seasoned veterans.

Joshua Maddux:

I have this problem.

Joshua Maddux:

She's overcome this challenge and really worked on, worked through

Joshua Maddux:

this issue by diversifying to really overcome the inconsistency.

Joshua Maddux:

Andrea has over 21 years experience in helping first time non-fiction authors and

Joshua Maddux:

business owners become published authors.

Joshua Maddux:

So many of us have amazing ideas and we want to, shout it from

Joshua Maddux:

the mountaintops, but oftentimes.

Joshua Maddux:

It's an idea in our head and it doesn't go anywhere.

Joshua Maddux:

Becoming a published author is such an awesome thing and helps so

Joshua Maddux:

many more other business owners.

Joshua Maddux:

There's so much to learn through this conversation.

Joshua Maddux:

And I'm super excited to just jump in and go from there.

Joshua Maddux:

Great to have you on the show.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Yes.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm so excited to be here.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

So let's dive in and walk through, what is your background?

Joshua Maddux:

Who are you and how did you get here?

Joshua Maddux:

Really from, a business experience aspect.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Oh, sure.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've been writing most of my life and I just never thought

Andrea Susan Glass:

I could make a living at it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I would write articles and I wrote for different newspapers and magazines.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then I wrote a few books and I got an agent, but I never got a public.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I thought, this is really hard and this is really sad

Andrea Susan Glass:

when you can't sell your books.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I thought, what if I wrote books for other people?

Andrea Susan Glass:

Cause I know how to write a book and I would get paid up front.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I started ghostwriting in 2000.

Andrea Susan Glass:

That's what started my business writers way.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I did very well at the start.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I won an award from the very first book I wrote.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then I realized like we were talking about inconsistent income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Copy editing to my services because sometimes someone came to me and the book

Andrea Susan Glass:

was already done and they didn't need a ghost writer, but they needed someone to

Andrea Susan Glass:

clean it up, which I loved doing as well.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So at a copy editing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And after doing this for so many years, the urge inside of me to write

Andrea Susan Glass:

and publish books was still there.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But at this point as self-publishing grow, I didn't need to find a publisher anymore.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Made that firm decision that I was going to write books for myself.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And this year, 2021, I published my first two books.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It was a book about.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Write a book called your fabulous first book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then I had a workbook called my father's first book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It was a workbook companion, and it's just very exciting to move from

Andrea Susan Glass:

the ghost writer to the copy editor.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've also.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Taught classes for the university of California, which I still do.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then I've also added book coach because I've learned

Andrea Susan Glass:

a lot from my experience.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So now I'm pretty much a full service business for first time.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Non-fiction authors to get from where they are to where they want to be.

Joshua Maddux:

That's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

I know.

Joshua Maddux:

Oftentimes whenever we jump into any industry or tasks that

Joshua Maddux:

were super unfamiliar with.

Joshua Maddux:

Sometimes from the outward appearance, it's like writing a book.

Joshua Maddux:

Isn't that hard.

Joshua Maddux:

I got a bunch of words in my head.

Joshua Maddux:

I'll just throw them on paper.

Joshua Maddux:

And then you have to realize that like chapter breakdown and it has

Joshua Maddux:

to make sense and it has to follow a flow and there has to be, and it's oh,

Joshua Maddux:

this is actual, takes time to do it.

Joshua Maddux:

You can't just spend an afternoon and spit out a book.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's really where I think, whether someone is looking for.

Joshua Maddux:

A writer, coach, a book coach or someone that goes right,

Joshua Maddux:

or any of that type of stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

Having someone who understands that is, is super, super valuable.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

So I know with, in regards to your business challenge and

Joshua Maddux:

chatting through essentially.

Joshua Maddux:

Aspect of inconsistently and looking at obviously, inconsistent

Joshua Maddux:

leads means inconsistent clients, which means inconsistent income.

Joshua Maddux:

And so many business owners struggle with this.

Joshua Maddux:

What does that look like for you?

Joshua Maddux:

Overcoming that and diversifying.

Joshua Maddux:

I know we talked about that briefly before.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Yeah.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Usually when we talk about overcoming a challenge, let's talk about the

Andrea Susan Glass:

challenge first, problem solution.

Andrea Susan Glass:

The problem for people like me, who I would call it creative

Andrea Susan Glass:

because I am a creative writer.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm a ghostwriter, I'm a copywriter, I'm a coach.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Those are fairly creative skills and the skill that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Did not have when I went into business was marketing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So my inconsistent income was.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It was a challenge.

Andrea Susan Glass:

My inconsistent leads was a challenge because I didn't

Andrea Susan Glass:

know how to market myself.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A lot of people like me will go into business with a skillset, whether it's a

Andrea Susan Glass:

holistic health practitioner, financial planner, or all kinds of coaches, because

Andrea Susan Glass:

they want to serve may have a skill.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I want to share that space with a lot of people, but they

Andrea Susan Glass:

don't have business acumen.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They might not know how to set up a business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They don't know how to run a business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They don't know how to.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Their financials or their contracts.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And most of them don't how to run a business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

In terms of marketing creatives are more or less using right side of the brand.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And marketing is using the left side of the brand.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Although there are ways to be creative with marketing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So we start off thinking, okay I ran an ad in the newspaper and I

Andrea Susan Glass:

got my first post writing client.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And from there you expect that there'll be more clients.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Maybe you did a great job.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So they'll tell us.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But they might not know anyone who needs someone to write a book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Then you go to the chamber of commerce networking meeting, and you

Andrea Susan Glass:

think you might meet people there.

Andrea Susan Glass:

You start doing things that seem very common and familiar, but this is

Andrea Susan Glass:

definitely not a way to have consistent income because a lot of people like me

Andrea Susan Glass:

come out of a job where they're paid a salary and they know what consistent

Andrea Susan Glass:

income looks like, but when they go into business, They don't think

Andrea Susan Glass:

about the fact that there is no sense of consistency until you build up.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And there are people who might out of the gate have context

Andrea Susan Glass:

from their previous work.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A lot of people start a business and have context from the job they

Andrea Susan Glass:

had before, or they might prepare an advance before they start a business

Andrea Susan Glass:

and set up a lot of lead generation.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I didn't do that and I didn't have that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I had.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Learn marketing basically from the ground up.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And one of the things I learned is that you have to try a lot of different

Andrea Susan Glass:

methods of marketing to see, which is going to work for your personality, for

Andrea Susan Glass:

your skills and for the client base.

Andrea Susan Glass:

You have.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Because not everybody is going to be comfortable with all kinds of marketing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Some people are not going to be able to speak.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've spoken in many places.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've conducted workshops.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I hit half the libraries in San Diego county and done workshops with them.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So that's not something I'm uncomfortable with.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So you have to find what works for you, but it still doesn't necessarily

Andrea Susan Glass:

mean that you're going to have a li a lead generation machine.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It's going to bring your consistently it's.

Andrea Susan Glass:

One of the methods that worked for me was diversifying my skills that I offer.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I started out as a ghostwriter.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I found that some people wanted the help, but they didn't want to pay the fee.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And that ghost writing is your most expensive fee that you're

Andrea Susan Glass:

going to charge because you're spending the most time doing it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And it's also the hardest work.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I found that once I added copy editing, I was able to get a lot more clients.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And a lot of people that I met through writing groups, writing classes,

Andrea Susan Glass:

networking, lot of the different methods that I found from marketing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Wanted a copy editor, whether I worked with them from the beginning or in

Andrea Susan Glass:

the middle or at the end, most of them usually come to me at the end.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I found that copied.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A more marketable skill than ghost writing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So now I became a ghost writer and a copy editor.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Then the university of California contacted me.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They found me in one of the writers groups I belong to and asked if I

Andrea Susan Glass:

wanted to teach a class for them.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And my first class was called marketing for copy editors,

Andrea Susan Glass:

which is funny because I.

Andrea Susan Glass:

The best marketing person at that time, but I'm really good

Andrea Susan Glass:

at putting together classes.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And my class has been running for over 15 years right now, and it's been very

Andrea Susan Glass:

successful, but you know what they say, teach what you want to learn.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And every time I teach that class, I learned more about how to market myself.

Andrea Susan Glass:

After that, then I added.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So the diversification of what I offered in terms of services was able to allow

Andrea Susan Glass:

me more consistency of getting leads, because the more work you do for someone,

Andrea Susan Glass:

the more referrals you're going to get.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then also the more groups you belong to, the more referrals

Andrea Susan Glass:

you get from the groups.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So the more exposure you give yourself, you expose yourself

Andrea Susan Glass:

in so many different ways.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It can be on social media.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It can be.

Andrea Susan Glass:

The work that you do, it could be writing groups can be getting out into

Andrea Susan Glass:

the world like we did primarily before COVID and now we're doing more of that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So you start having the marketing work for itself in terms of.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Taking on a momentum.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then this year I added author to my list of diversified skills, which

Andrea Susan Glass:

is a way to create consistent income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Once you get your books really hooked in to a target market, once

Andrea Susan Glass:

people know about you, now that I have two books, I'm talking on more

Andrea Susan Glass:

podcasts, I'm doing live events.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm doing books on.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So your books can now be another source of income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I basically have five sources of income now, and that diversification

Andrea Susan Glass:

allows me to have more of a consistency.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm not going to lie.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It's still up and down.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A lot of times you have times of year when people are just not buying.

Andrea Susan Glass:

The holidays tend to be slow and yet there's some people I just had a client

Andrea Susan Glass:

who hired me and says, I want to get my book finished before December 31st.

Andrea Susan Glass:

That's not always correct that there's slower at the holiday time,

Andrea Susan Glass:

but even so if it's slow at the holiday time, a lot of people say

Andrea Susan Glass:

so sales or offer some specials.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So marketing is really the crux underneath.

Andrea Susan Glass:

All of this inconsistency.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And once you learn how to get your marketing going, let's

Andrea Susan Glass:

say consistent marketing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whereas every day I spend at least an hour a day doing some kind of

Andrea Susan Glass:

marketing, then you're going to create more of a consistency of leads.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And ultimately in.

Joshua Maddux:

That's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

And they're totally agree.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think that's something that so many business owners, if you own a

Joshua Maddux:

business and you don't consider yourself a marketer and you don't have either a

Joshua Maddux:

marketing company or someone who is in the company, depending on the size of

Joshua Maddux:

the business, if you don't have someone in the company or marketing company

Joshua Maddux:

that you're paying, or you're not considering yourself a marketer, then.

Joshua Maddux:

The long-term trajectory.

Joshua Maddux:

The longterm viability of that business, I would say is in question,

Joshua Maddux:

because if you're thinking, oh, I offer a product or alpha service

Joshua Maddux:

and I don't need to market it.

Joshua Maddux:

There are some industries where you don't necessarily quote, need to market

Joshua Maddux:

per se, because the demand is so high.

Joshua Maddux:

People are just going to show up no matter what, but if the.

Joshua Maddux:

Two years have taught us anything with pandemic and everything.

Joshua Maddux:

I think it's really prevalent that something little can change and

Joshua Maddux:

disrupt your industry, massively.

Joshua Maddux:

And I know, some writing coaches and stuff got super, super concerned when

Joshua Maddux:

platforms like Amazon came out where they could, you could self-publish.

Joshua Maddux:

And people got really freaked out.

Joshua Maddux:

They're like, anyone can write a book now it's anyone can, but

Joshua Maddux:

anyone can also be a mechanic and try to change the oil in their car.

Joshua Maddux:

Not everyone's going to succeed in it.

Joshua Maddux:

And so in reality, yes, anyone could self-publish driving that back to in

Joshua Maddux:

reality, someone who knows what they're doing and can help through that process.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think it's really interesting.

Joshua Maddux:

The book itself that you've published, the two almost are

Joshua Maddux:

a lead generation a little bit.

Joshua Maddux:

Because.

Joshua Maddux:

They're wedding, someone's appetite a little bit to publishing a book, and

Joshua Maddux:

you've now put out a book about how to do that, how to publish a book, how to do

Joshua Maddux:

that, what that looks like to create that.

Joshua Maddux:

And it almost, because you're the offer author of it.

Joshua Maddux:

It leads them back to you.

Joshua Maddux:

So if they have questions or they need help, or they want to hire someone to

Joshua Maddux:

help with that, it almost leads them.

Joshua Maddux:

It does lead them back to you.

Joshua Maddux:

So not only is that it's a twofold, it's a lead-generation aspect a little

Joshua Maddux:

bit, but it also does bring in income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

That's a good point, Joshua, because the people I

Andrea Susan Glass:

work with generally, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and solo

Andrea Susan Glass:

professionals, service professionals, like coaches, realtors, financial planners,

Andrea Susan Glass:

therapists, those people have a service.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And if they want to stand down.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They could do that by writing a book that will put them above others,

Andrea Susan Glass:

it will enhance their credibility.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If you had 10 real estate agents and they can also tell the same

Andrea Susan Glass:

homes, the one who's an author might stand out as more of an expert.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So the people I work with want to.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Expand their credibility and show their expertise to enhance their business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But also it can be an additional source of income in know, like

Andrea Susan Glass:

we're talking about diversifying.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It can be a lead generator because they could hand out the books for free.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So that people could find out more about the service they

Andrea Susan Glass:

provide and then go to them.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And it also is a way to spread your expertise, your knowledge

Andrea Susan Glass:

and wisdom to thousands of people.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whereas one-on-one, as a service provider, you can't reach that many

Andrea Susan Glass:

people, you have a limit, and we've heard this term for so many years.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Working for dollars or working for multiple income the dollar for dollar

Andrea Susan Glass:

meaning you're trading your time for dollars is when you're a service.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But a book is a product and a Burke literally sells while you're sleeping.

Andrea Susan Glass:

That's the exciting part of having a product.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So as I've added book, coach and author to my area of expertise and my services

Andrea Susan Glass:

and my products, so that I can have more of a diversified income, the same

Andrea Susan Glass:

is true for the people I work with.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It will give them more of that diversified income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Less of that inconsistency and it just feels good when you see

Andrea Susan Glass:

your name on the cover of a book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It's I don't know if there's anything that's not greater than

Andrea Susan Glass:

that, but it's pretty great.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Especially if you sweated through, I think it was almost a year and a half that

Andrea Susan Glass:

it took me to get to publish this book because of fitting time in while I was

Andrea Susan Glass:

working and learning the ins and outs of publishing and working with Amazon and.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And consistencies, shall we say?

Andrea Susan Glass:

And, getting on the phone with them.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So someone finally coming with a book with their name on it is such a great

Andrea Susan Glass:

reward for the time that you've put in.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And that's, what's so exciting for me too, in my business to have

Andrea Susan Glass:

the opportunity to serve people.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I just want to put a note in here that's so important to remember

Andrea Susan Glass:

is that nobody runs a business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A lot of us go into businesses solopreneurs and say, oh great.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm good at this.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I'm going to start a business.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whether it's the financial planner, the real estate

Andrea Susan Glass:

agent, or a book coach like me.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But we can't do it alone because we don't have all those skillsets and

Andrea Susan Glass:

whether or not we hire a marketer, we certainly can hire other people.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whether we want employees or contractors.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've worked with contractors.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have my web design guy.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have tech people.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have my graphic designer.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have my copy of.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I have support people, accountability, partners.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So it seems like an isolated experience to write a book or

Andrea Susan Glass:

to run a business by yourself.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But no one should think that they can do it all themselves.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And that's really important that will also help counteract that

Andrea Susan Glass:

inconsistency because when we can reach out to other people, when we're

Andrea Susan Glass:

struggling and for me with marketing, I used books, courses, and coaches.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have a book marketing coach, and I'm working with a business marketing coach.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I can't do this all myself.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I'm really glad that I was willing to reach out and understanding that

Andrea Susan Glass:

you have to you cannot do this alone.

Andrea Susan Glass:

No one can write a book alone or no one can run a business alone.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So that's really important advice that I like to share with people.

Joshua Maddux:

That's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

I totally agree.

Joshua Maddux:

I think, and that's really.

Joshua Maddux:

The main sort of mindset behind this whole podcast is the aspect of so many

Joshua Maddux:

business owners at the end of the day.

Joshua Maddux:

Trapped themselves in a bunker for whatever ever reason.

Joshua Maddux:

And that might just be the doomsday bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

And they're trying to protect themselves from whatever happened

Joshua Maddux:

in their business five years ago.

Joshua Maddux:

Or, whatever reason they're sheltering themselves from risk or some

Joshua Maddux:

issue or whatever that might be.

Joshua Maddux:

And so many business owners Do that on a regular basis.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think it's so critical to really the success of any business to reach

Joshua Maddux:

out and have other people that are there for you and can simply bounce ideas.

Joshua Maddux:

If it's someone who's in a different industry, that's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Run ideas past someone else who is in a different industry who isn't

Joshua Maddux:

necessarily direct competition.

Joshua Maddux:

And you guys can be open about, Hey, I think that's a great

Joshua Maddux:

idea, or maybe not so much.

Joshua Maddux:

And having a business coach, having any of that type of stuff, someone who doesn't

Joshua Maddux:

necessarily a hundred percent of the time have all the right answers, but someone

Joshua Maddux:

who maybe can ask the right questions.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think that's really critical for businesses.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I just thought of another important point is that

Andrea Susan Glass:

people learn and people take in information in different formats.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whatever service or product you're providing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

We have to think in terms of people who might be auditory, visual, or kinesthetic,

Andrea Susan Glass:

and as well as I was to put my first book, any book into paperback, cause

Andrea Susan Glass:

there's a lot of bells, a lot of detail.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I did that and now I'm thinking about an audio book because people.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Some people just they listen in their car or they go for a walk and they listen.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And next year I'm planning on developing two courses because you

Andrea Susan Glass:

can take my book and you can read it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then you can just put it back on the shelf or you can

Andrea Susan Glass:

take a course and go through it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Step-by-step let's say there's six modules and each module is going to

Andrea Susan Glass:

give you a homework assignment and then you'll get on a coaching call.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And you'll talk about your challenges with the assignment.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And if you're going to get the same knowledge in a, so much deeper format.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So we want to have those of us who want to share our expertise, we want to be able

Andrea Susan Glass:

to offer it in many different formats.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Not only is that great for our audience, because they're all learned

Andrea Susan Glass:

differently, but here again, we're creating more sources of events.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And since I am a teacher at heart, I actually graduated as a teacher and I had

Andrea Susan Glass:

an English major and an education major.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I've been teaching for the university of California for 15 years.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If I combine my teaching and my writing courses are perfect for me and

Andrea Susan Glass:

beyond teaching for the university.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If I teach my own courses, obviously I'll get it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Chunk of the income and I'll have more control over the

Andrea Susan Glass:

content and the way I share it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I'm very excited.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've taken a few online courses on how to develop courses.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And again, even with courses, you can have them be strictly on the computer for

Andrea Susan Glass:

somebody to go and take in their own time.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Or you can have them with one coaching call a week.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Two coaching calls or videos or no videos.

Andrea Susan Glass:

There's so many different formats.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And again, we have to understand our audience, Audience is business owners.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They're very busy.

Andrea Susan Glass:

What's going to be the best format for them to take in this information.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And usually what I do is I like to run surveys.

Andrea Susan Glass:

That's how I wrote my first book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I ran a survey to find out what was the biggest problem that

Andrea Susan Glass:

potential authors were having and starting to write their book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And after I ran that survey, I had a sense of what I needed to put in my book.

Joshua Maddux:

That's really good.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

I think with the different types of learning whether that's via someone

Joshua Maddux:

picking up the physical book or, listening to an audio book or anything like that,

Joshua Maddux:

I actually, I know a business owner, friend of mine who will buy the physical

Joshua Maddux:

copy and the audio book, and then he listens to the audio book as he reads it.

Joshua Maddux:

And he's I retain so much more information.

Joshua Maddux:

Out of that book.

Joshua Maddux:

Then if I was to just do one of the two for me, I will grab, I'll grab audio

Joshua Maddux:

books of books that I want to read and I'll do it while I'm, I'll listen

Joshua Maddux:

to them while I'm doing yard work or gardening or, out driving or whatever.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's activities that, I would never have been able to sit there on the

Joshua Maddux:

freeway, reading a book while I'm driving.

Joshua Maddux:

That's a terrible idea, but you can throw an audio book on.

Joshua Maddux:

And, digest that content and think about it and process through that, in

Joshua Maddux:

a time where you're doing an activity that isn't hyper productive necessarily.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's something where you're able to replace, driving on the freeway

Joshua Maddux:

with reading a book and actually be somewhat productive during that.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah,

Andrea Susan Glass:

it's more of a, it's a progression that we're seeing nowadays and

Andrea Susan Glass:

experts who was starting with a service.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They're moving into a book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Then like me, they might move into a workbook and then

Andrea Susan Glass:

they're moving into courses.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And some of them even going beyond with coaching days and I'm planning

Andrea Susan Glass:

on doing a writer's retreat next year.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have a few locations in mind.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Expanding your service and product deliverables is one of the best ways to.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Diversify your income and have more of a consistent income.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I know it sounds like a little bit too much to manage and I can see

Andrea Susan Glass:

that some people might think that, so it's not right for everyone.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And that's why I wrote two books this year, but I won't

Andrea Susan Glass:

be writing anymore for awhile.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I'm going to do two courses next year.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They're just going to be my two primary courses.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Some people go on and on and the next person, the bigger course, and you

Andrea Susan Glass:

have to decide what's right for you.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I am not.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Youngster I'm, in my third phase of life, I guess say, and I know what I can

Andrea Susan Glass:

handle, and I know what I want to do.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And that ideas that I have to share will be perfect for the two

Andrea Susan Glass:

courses that I'm developing and.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I just, as a matter of fact, I just developed a new coaching

Andrea Susan Glass:

program called begin your book now.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Or I want to take authors who need a little handholding to the very beginning

Andrea Susan Glass:

of writing a book where I'll help them on a few zoom calls with their title,

Andrea Susan Glass:

their table of contents, their daily writing schedule and the timeline for

Andrea Susan Glass:

the whole process, because that's what.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A lot of authors find challenging.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They don't understand the whole process where it starts with, writing

Andrea Susan Glass:

the book and then getting it edited and having beta readers and having

Andrea Susan Glass:

advanced readers and getting the cover design the whole trajectory.

Andrea Susan Glass:

This beginning of book now coaching program that I'm developing is going to.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Lay all that out and you'll have timelines for me.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I don't find timelines as pressure.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I find them as my own form of accountability.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If I said that by the end of today, I'm going to do this and this.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm going to put everything else aside and do that bad, or, I have

Andrea Susan Glass:

an accountability partner right now.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So on Sunday night I sent her what I was supposed to send her.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It was like eight o'clock at night when I finally sent it to her.

Andrea Susan Glass:

But I knew that I promised it to her.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I'm a coach is a great form of accountability, but you can find

Andrea Susan Glass:

accountability partners in your industry or the writing community.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whatever works for you.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So the beginning of your book now coaching program is a form of accountability.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It lays out the whole process.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So new offers don't have to struggle and say, oh, what do I do next?

Andrea Susan Glass:

And what are we doing next?

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I'm excited about that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And right now I'm going to be putting out a notice is looking for beta testers.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Those are the people who take your coaching program the first

Andrea Susan Glass:

time at a reduced price so that they can create testimonials for

Andrea Susan Glass:

when you launch your program.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I'm excited about that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I love developing titles and topics.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Tables of contents and this one of the most challenging things

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've found working with authors.

Joshua Maddux:

So yeah, the one thing, one thing I want to mention with

Joshua Maddux:

in regards to diversifying, and I think I want to clarify a little bit

Joshua Maddux:

here is although we're talking about diversifying what services or product

Joshua Maddux:

you're offering, what you're not talking about is diversifying across different.

Joshua Maddux:

Industry offerings.

Joshua Maddux:

You didn't say, oh, I am a book author, and I'm also going

Joshua Maddux:

to open an ice cream shop.

Joshua Maddux:

Those are two entirely separate industries.

Joshua Maddux:

Have nothing to do with each other and have no overlap.

Joshua Maddux:

Being an author and being a copy editor and being a, a book

Joshua Maddux:

coach are all the same industry.

Joshua Maddux:

They have very similar elements, a lot of overlap, the knowledge needed

Joshua Maddux:

to do all of those is not necessarily a hundred percent the same, but has a

Joshua Maddux:

very high overlap across all of that.

Joshua Maddux:

And the diversifying isn't necessarily always, oh, you own

Joshua Maddux:

a plumbing company now go open a.

Joshua Maddux:

A roofing company.

Joshua Maddux:

Those are very different elements.

Joshua Maddux:

They're both in construction, but they're different.

Joshua Maddux:

Or, you own a restaurant go open a construction company.

Joshua Maddux:

Like we're not talking about cross industry or diversifying in that

Joshua Maddux:

sense necessarily because this diversity move that you made in

Joshua Maddux:

diversifying sort of your offering.

Joshua Maddux:

Wasn't something where you had to go spend five years in education

Joshua Maddux:

and go learn a new skill.

Joshua Maddux:

It was something that you had the primary skillset and it was

Joshua Maddux:

pivoting the offer slightly.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's really key.

Joshua Maddux:

Sometimes you don't have to do this giant shift in business to offer something new.

Joshua Maddux:

It can be a small little incremental change.

Joshua Maddux:

There's a statement and a quote that I got.

Joshua Maddux:

Butcher, but it talks about making a 1% increase in your business.

Joshua Maddux:

You make a 1% increase every day in your business.

Joshua Maddux:

That's 365% better by the end of the year.

Joshua Maddux:

And so sometimes business owners want this big, giant, I

Joshua Maddux:

want to do a 90 degree pivot.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's okay don't do a 90 degree pivot because that's

Joshua Maddux:

all you're ever going to do.

Joshua Maddux:

And then it's not going to be.

Joshua Maddux:

But do a 1% increase, day over day and improve your business a little bit.

Joshua Maddux:

And I think elements like this, diversifying the authoring, the offering.

Joshua Maddux:

Are really critical to that.

Joshua Maddux:

And

Andrea Susan Glass:

Really good.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I think Joshua, that people will tend to want to work with specialists.

Andrea Susan Glass:

When you look at somebody's website, you want to see what they've done.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have to say that I am horrified when I get on a website.

Andrea Susan Glass:

A copy editor and says, I do copy editing.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I do book formatting.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I do graphic design.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I do a virtual assisting.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I do your taxes and it goes on and on.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And how can this person be good at all of those things?

Andrea Susan Glass:

I.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I just don't think that's attractive for a business to do that.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I specialize in working with first time non-fiction authors to help

Andrea Susan Glass:

them write and publish a book.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They're going to be very proud of at whatever stage they need.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I am flexible and customized whether they need ghost writing, copy or books.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I can do that and I can get them to the finish line.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I'm a specialist in first time, non-fiction authors.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I don't really work in fiction.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I don't really work in my market.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I work with experts who have information to share.

Andrea Susan Glass:

You.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Don't go to a doctor who does everything.

Andrea Susan Glass:

When you need a specialist for, a broken bone or any kind of surgery,

Andrea Susan Glass:

we tend to feel that specialists have.

Andrea Susan Glass:

The best skills.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And when someone works with me, there's two factors.

Andrea Susan Glass:

They want my skills, but on another level, they also have to get along with me.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And so now that we have zoom, I don't take on any new clients until we have a zoom.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Because, or I actually do have some live meetings with people because

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've seemed to attract a lot of people in the area where I live in

Andrea Susan Glass:

San Diego, but the zoom meeting, we can decide if we're compatible.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I won't work with anyone.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Who's not responsive.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If I send an email and it takes a week to get a response, that's not the best client

Andrea Susan Glass:

for me because we work with timelines.

Andrea Susan Glass:

If I don't get responses and I don't feel like there's invested in it.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So the skill set is really important, but the relationship is important.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Whether you're offering a service or a product is still need to know

Andrea Susan Glass:

your target market and you still need to have an affinity for them.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Because even if you're selling books, you're going to be doing some live events.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And I did a live event a few weeks ago at a library.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've got a live event in two weeks at a street fair where my

Andrea Susan Glass:

writers put this taking a booth.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then in January I have another live event.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I'm going to be on an offer panel that I set up in a women's coworking

Andrea Susan Glass:

space, full of business owners.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So I have to be relatable to that audience.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have to know my audience.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have to speak to that audience.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So your skills have to become accompanied by your ability

Andrea Susan Glass:

to relate to your audience.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

It's been super good chatting.

Joshua Maddux:

I think, I feel like there's been a ton of really good nuggets and information

Joshua Maddux:

throughout this whole conversation.

Joshua Maddux:

And I feel like.

Joshua Maddux:

We could probably sit here and chat for another half hour.

Joshua Maddux:

I will have your website, LinkedIn, all that type of stuff is, and bio is all in

Joshua Maddux:

the show notes for those listening, if you want to grab that, but what is the

Joshua Maddux:

number one best place to connect with you?

Joshua Maddux:

What is that number one spot where people should visit, find out more about you.

Joshua Maddux:

If they want to connect?

Andrea Susan Glass:

It's hard to decide between my two

Andrea Susan Glass:

websites, but writer's way.com.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Simple to remember.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I took that from the artist's way, because I really liked that, his

Andrea Susan Glass:

way.com and that's my service-based.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And then Andrea, Susan glass.com is where I have my books and my coaching programs.

Andrea Susan Glass:

You can always.

Andrea Susan Glass:

People anyone on LinkedIn and Facebook by putting their name in there, but way.com.

Andrea Susan Glass:

It also shows a lot of the authors I've worked with.

Andrea Susan Glass:

I have pictures of their books and their testimonials.

Andrea Susan Glass:

So you can also put my name into Amazon and find me all the books

Andrea Susan Glass:

I've worked on and my books.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Pretty much everywhere I want to be found, but I also offer a complimentary

Andrea Susan Glass:

book strategy session, 30 minutes on zoom for anyone who has any questions.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Absolutely no obligation.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Let's just talk and see where you're at and what kind of services you need.

Andrea Susan Glass:

And you can get that link on my website, Andrea Susan Glass dot com.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

I will make sure to add the Amazon book author link in the show notes as well.

Joshua Maddux:

I'll grab that.

Joshua Maddux:

And, though, anyone can click on that and check out the books that you've

Joshua Maddux:

published to date follow the author on Amazon and Amazon will notify you as

Joshua Maddux:

more books are released, which is great.

Joshua Maddux:

So also appreciate the time.

Joshua Maddux:

Appreciate you joining me today.

Joshua Maddux:

And yeah, go check out the website if you want to connect and as

Joshua Maddux:

always keep learning and we'll go.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Take care.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Thanks.

Andrea Susan Glass:

Thanks so much for today, Joshua.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Joshua Maddux:

at, in the bunker podcast.

Joshua Maddux:

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

Joshua Maddux:

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

Joshua Maddux:

we can highlight your journey as well.

Joshua Maddux:

But before you go.

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About the Podcast

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In The Bunker
Exploring the biggest challenges in starting and running a business.

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About your host

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Joshua Maddux

Joshua Maddux is an entrepreneur who has helped numerous businesses grow and thrive.