Your thoughts MAY be making you POOR!

Are your thoughts making you rich
or making you poor?

I've met literally thousands of self-published and indie-published authors over the course of the last couple of years and the saddest thing I see is not a lack of editing or poor covers it's self-sabotage. Never have I seen a business so rampant with people so determined to fail.

I'm a very positive person so it grieves me to write a post such as this one, but aren't you tired of settling when it comes to your career?  Or are you the type of author that had it not been for the advent of the self-publishing trend, would still be sending the same manuscript out repeatedly  without doing anything to improve it or ever writing anything new?

 I hope that's not you, because I'm here to tell you today that you're capable of more than that and whomever convinced you that you're not should certainly be shown a lesson.  Show them! Determine today to prove to them how wrong they were. The ONLY person that your success is completely dependent on is YOU. 

Now, for the sake of being clear here I'm not taking away from anyone's personal belief system. I give credit for everything I have to God because I know I've been blessed, but success still requires action. If you're not where you want to be, your thoughts are making you poor.

The most powerful part of our body is our mind, and if you are allowing it to work against you...stop it right now! Life is too short to live in a reality you create for yourself that isn't the one you want.

I've taken the gloves off, and I'm ready to lay all out there for you. Mary Poppins might have suggested that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, but on the flip side sugar coating, things never did anyone any good.


Now, let's take a look at why your book isn't as successful as you think it should be:

These are some of the thought patterns that are preventing you from fulfilling your potential.... -I don't have time.
-I don't have the money.
 -I got a bad review.
-I don't know how.

I'm sure you've heard that CAN'T never COULD and whomever told you that is right.

Let's dispel those destructive thought patterns right now.

-You do have the time. If you've ever gone to college or a training session for whatever field of work, you're in, or even took the time to follow a recipe...you've got the time. The truth is you are just not investing the time into your goal. The truth is you are just not investing the time into your goal.

I'm not suggesting anyone neglect their family or important obligations, but I know that if someone told you tonight that they would give you one million dollars if you wrote 50,000 words, and you only had one month to do it in. You would find a way. There are plenty of things you're doing with your time that could be used to give you and your family the financial freedom you want. First, you have to commit to the goal.

-If you wanted it bad enough you could find the money. I was listening to a webinar this weekend, and it struck me that what the speaker was saying was very true.  They said that if your child broke a leg, and you needed to take them to the doctor. You'd find a way. The argument is "that's an emergency" but if your financial house is in disarray, you've got an emergency on your hands, and it's not going away until you do something about it.  If you want it bad enough you'll find a way to invest in your future. We both know that we've probably wasted far more money on things that had no capacity to literally change the way we can provide for our family.



-So what you got a bad review. The only time you should pay that much attention to reviews is if they are all bad, then you've got a problem. You need to take it back to the drawing board and correct what's not working. Otherwise, publishing is a very subjective business, and you're not looking to sell every person in the world your book. You want to find those who like your style and sell to them. That should be where your focus is....finding your readership.

-If you don't know how to do something by golly learn how. Never in history have there been so many opportunities to learn, and much of that education is free. Well, if you consider you might actually have to expend energy finding those places perhaps I should say free all but a little work.  So, stop telling yourself that lie and admit that what you're really saying is "I don't want to learn how to do it."

These thought patterns run rampant in the publishing world. It doesn't matter how you're published, or even if you're published yet. If you're thinking this way, you might as well just throw in the towel now, because this advice can be applied to any occupation, and maybe you don't really want to be a best selling author.

If you find you'd rather spend hours a day griping and complaining in social groups about how bad your sales are and how unfair the world is, then prepare yourself because you'll be there for a while. Once you determine to accept responsibility and actually do something about your career you'll realize that it's true that where there is a will there is a way!

This is absolutely NOT supposed to be a depressing post, instead it's supposed to meet you where you are and motivate you to take the necessary steps to overcome your biggest obstacle, YOU!

I can't wait to hear all about your success. Please do come back and share.

If you're looking for a coach and need someone to whip you in shape and help you find the tools you need to reach your goals you might just be interested in the free webinar I have coming up in March.  Be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you'll be one of the first notified to sign up for one of the limited spots that will be available.

Until next time, I'm challenging you to believe in yourself and turn your negatives into positives,
Tammie 

Great Write Up This Week!!!

Authenticity BookHouse featured a write up about us this week. What an awesome overview of the book. Sending #authorthanks to them and wishing them much success as the implement the strategies in the book.

Read it:

http://authenticitybookhouse.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/sizing-up-the-categories/

A New Year, A New Opportunity, Shattered Glass, and Art

It’s all about perspective. I’ll have to admit that for the past year I haven’t been myself. I’ve allowed the election and external conditions, including the economy color my view and make most of 2012 miserable. Add to that the fact that I had an unusual amount of health issues that further weighted down my spirit and well, I’m just happy to see 2013 roll around. I’m not a pessimistic person. I'm an optimistic one, and quite frankly, I'm tired of being down. I don’t like and don’t encourage anyone to dwell on it. We all have ups and downs, comfort zones and issues that we’d rather not have to deal with. The fact is, at least in my case, I don’t deal with anything well, when I’m down in the dumps and feeling blue. So one of my resolutions this year is to snap out of the funk and let my naturally jovial and motivated self out of the box this year. So if you’ve been waiting for someone to give you an excuse to slough off all those dreary feelings, I’m just the gal to do it. Join me this year and let us all rise above the problems and search for their solutions. Join me in setting goals and celebrating accomplishments. Join me and let us share our enthusiasm for life until it spreads like a YouTube video! Join me in thanking God for the Blessings he gives us everyday and join me as I shout from the rooftop (figuratively speaking, ya know I’m terrified of heights) that the only way we’ll be held down is if we allow ourselves to be. Our associate pastor, spoke last night on turning shattered glass into beautiful art. He shared a story about stained glass, a church and an artisan. It put so many things into perspective. Sometimes it is out of the broken pieces that we can build the most magnificent things. So if your life has been shattered recently and made an unexpected turn, whether personally or financially go quickly and examine the shards. You will be surprised that among them; you will find new beginnings, and I believe that you can find a way to turn those shards into a work of art. Happy New Year! May the coming year be a blessed one for each of you and your families. Jumping forward into a Happy New Year, Tammie

Get your Chance in the Spotlight!!!!

 If you have read the 8 Hours to Jump Start Your Career (book one) and would be interested I will be spotlighting authors and their experience. If you feel like the book was helpful and you have a story you could share you will be spotlighted in a very nice way with photos and links to your books. Can you say FREE advertising.  Please email me asap to be one of the first authors featured.
tammiecgibbs@yahoo.com  Please put AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT in the subject line.

A new look is on the horizon

For those of you who visit often you'll notice that we're doing a little remodeling of the blog/site.  There are many exciting changes coming. Stay tuned.

Magic Beans, Willpower and a Smidge of Motivation

Welcome back! Yesterday I discussed blogs and today I'm going to discuss Magic Beans and Motivation... Yes. I can be a little crazy, but for the most part, I've been blessed through the years and given a certain knack for dreaming up wild ideas and actually implementing them.

What better subject for an author who got her start years ago when she launched a Balloon Business just two weeks after her high-school graduation?  Magic Beans.  What are they and where can an author get them? Did you even know you need them?

Well, this blog post is about the unseen initiative that drives us toward any goal and whether or not you have what it takes to persevere and be the success that you were meant to be. 

Many of my fellow authors will be appalled by what I'm about to say, but the reality is that whether or not we like it or not. It's true.  Some call the phenomena "dumb luck."   Maybe, it is, to a degree.
You don't have to be the most talented author on the planet to become a successful author.  In fact, many of the most successful falls surprisingly short when it comes to the opinions of their peers. 

I'll shock you again when I say, "so what"! I'll try to explain.  When it comes to measuring another author's ability, we all would do well to recognize that the way we look at another author's work, and the way readers do is completely different.  It's subjective.  It's like a person's decorating choices and whether they adorn their lawn with pink flamingos or a work of modern art.  People are different, and they like different things. 

Do we as creatives do the world an injustice when we protest the writing ability of others and become bitter when people we deem unworthy achieve success?  I think we do because regardless of our opinion of our own ability, someone isn't going to like us or our work, and they are bound to let us know using the review system.

So, that being said it's important to identify these "Magic Beans" that every author needs to grab the spotlight of success for themselves.  There are two things that precede any person's success.

-Either they believed in themselves or someone else did! 

With just a smidge of self-motivation and determination any number of shortfalls can be overcome.  We can change how our covers look. We can edit a bad manuscript into a better one, but what we cannot do is succeed without the motivation to do so.

I would ask you now. Do you have what it takes?  Are you playing at the business of being an author? Or, do you truly believe in what you are doing and your ability to do it better every single time you put your fingers to the keyboard? 

I'm not famous, but I'm proud of the accomplishments I've made so far because I know that I do everything I can each and every day to assure success. 

Recognize today the success you already are and set those goals for the success you want to achieve.  Today's the day to wake up your will power and motivate yourself to create your own Magic Beans!!!  YOU are the secret ingredient because no one else can write the way you do!

I'd love to hear from you. Please comment and share this blog post any, and everywhere you can.

Tammie

To BLOG or Not to BLOG that is the Question!

Like you, I belong to a few writers groups online and one of the most asked questions lately has been "Should I have a blog?" 

For those of you who have read my book you already know the answer, but for those who haven't I'll try to explain the why behind the resounding "yes you should."

My background is in offline marketing and advertising and any person in that line of work worth their salt will tell you that it's hard to get anything for FREE, but if you can, you should use it.  For now, blog platforms are FREE. This may not be the case forever, but for now why not take advantage of the medium to further your marketing reach and help get both, you and your books out there? 

The biggest problem I see with authors and blogs is the fact that they don't plan how they will use the platform and instead judge the results by an arbitrary set of values.

I use my blog as a billboard. It's there to catch the occasional passerby, and I try to make sure that there is enough information on myself and my books to be informative when someone drops by.  I also use my blog as a means to an end. If you don't have a blog, you are virtually eliminating several additional methods of marketing yourself without even realizing you have done it.

What? Because I have a blog, I can participate in several things that I cannot if I only have a website. 

Book Tours: It's hard to participate in book tours, and blog hops without a blog. While there are paid versions you can easily set up tours and hops on your own working with fellow authors to cross-promote each other's books.

Articles: Using a blog you can easily draw attention to your blog and therefore, a static advertisement for you as an author by sharing the posts via Twitter and Facebook.  This is wonderful when your articles become viral with many authors sharing them across the various platforms.

If you're creative, you can come up with lots of ways to use a blog, but be careful not to miss the point of a blog.  A blog is a form of communication, and communication can also be static.  When you create a blog, it creates one more place that readers MIGHT find you. Don't be overly concerned if you blog isn't getting thousands of hits a month. It doesn't have to.  It's a tool and right now you can use it for FREE. 

If you have thoughts on blogging you'd like to share I'd love to hear your viewpoint. Please feel free to share.