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How Do You Define Success?

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Measure of success

As some of you may know, I wrote a controversial article “Do Authors Make Money? Here’s the Truth.”

In this post I mentioned looking for a job to supplement my indie-publishing endeavors. Some people seemed shocked as they believed I was hitting it big.

Well, since then, I’ve spoken to many entrepreneurs and concluded that most of us are struggling to make ends meet.

Why do we think others are more financially successful than we are?

Is that because we pretend to be more successful than we are? Do we hide the truth?

I’ve had several conversations with doctors, financial planners, lawyers and authors and it doesn’t matter which profession you’re in, entrepreneurs are always looking for the miracle that will help them succeed financially.

If professionals are struggling to keep their businesses thriving, isn’t that just part of life?

There is no miracle to become successful in life

Perhaps the secret lies in:

You need to redefine success in your terms and forget what others think. 

Perhaps success should be re-defined as:

Loving what you do even if it doesn’t make you rich

I was asked to answer some questions about being successful as an author entrepreneur by Eric Gati. Here are some of my answers to his questions and you can also read my entire interview on “The Daily Interview.”

What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your career as a writer (and business owner)? 

I enjoy building online communities and making people feel they belong. I started “Gutsy Indie Publishers” a FaceBook group, with 600+ authors, most of them indie. This group is for writers, publishers and anyone in the business who wants to help others.

Another accomplishment is the writing contest I started in 2011 called “My Gutsy Story®.” I have received many e-mails from writers thanking me for allowing them to open up and share their own stories.

I never realized I would be speaking at conferences about how to become a successful “Author Entrepreneur.” I love speaking to writers about blogging, how to sell more books, and unique ways to promote, that they may not have considered. Here are some links to the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference where I spoke about this topic on June 11th, 2014.

Introduction Video 1: http://youtu.be/l6gKv1-odS4
Video 2 on Blogging for Writers: http://youtu.be/o6nQHD_juwA

What has been your greatest challenge that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today?

  • How do you become visible? Whether online or in person, it takes time, perseverance and effort to have people know who you are, and to get loyal followers.
  • Another challenge is to move away from offering everything for free, and to charge for your expertise. I hired a business coach to help me become a marketing coach for authors. I still find this challenging as I enjoy helping others, but also need to make a living.

Many people have the skills and drive to write a book, but failure to market and sell the book the right way is probably what keep a lot of people from finding success. I know you can probably write volumes on this topic, but can you give us maybe 2-3 strategies that have been effective for you in promoting your books (online, specifically)?

  • Forming relationships online before your book comes out is essential. People who are familiar with your blog and like what you do are more likely to spread the word about your book and review it. Don’t expect people to simply buy your book by stating: “Buy my book.”
  • YouTube videos are effective in promoting your books. I have done several interviews where I talk about my books, or read excerpts from my book, and one of them, “Expat Life in Belize” has received over 58,000 hits.
  • Submitting your books for Awards, and winning some, is a great way to promote your books online. Both books have received Awards.

E-Lit Awards 2013 Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island, received 1st Place, and a Gold Medal in the “Autobiography/Memoir” category of the 2012 E-lit Awards. It also received a Silver Medal, in the “Travel Essay” category of the E-lit Awards

My Gutsy Story® Anthology: True Stories of Love, Courage and Adventure From Around the World, has been named a 2013 Benjamin Franklin Award Silver Honoree Winner, is a FINALIST at the 2014 International Book Awards, and WINNER at the 2014 Paris Book Festival.

I know you’ve spoken about getting people “out of their comfort zone,” and while this can have applications to many areas of life, I’m particularly interested in how it relates to entrepreneurship. What do you think it takes for someone to muster the “guts” to actually make the leap and execute their business idea? (In other words, what advice do you have for someone who is afraid to do this because they don’t want to leave their “comfort zone”?)

In general, writers prefer to sit at home and write. They often tend to be shy, and hope that their books will simply sell themselves. WRONG! As Joanna Penn stated, (and I saw your recent interview with her on your site Eric,) in her Google+ Hangout Interview with my friend Jason Matthews, you have to get out there and speak and promote your books. If you’re shy, “Get over it.” I agree with her, as no one knows your book better than you do and how is anyone going to hear about your work if you don’t promote it.

Even if you have the budget to hire a professional PR company, they still expect you to talk about your book on radio and TV interviews.

At the 2014 IBPA conference (Independent Book Publishers Association) presenters stated, Writers have no choice to opt out of social media. If you want to sell books, then you have to use social media. I am interviewing Angela Bole, Executive Director of IBPA on June 26th at 9 a.m. PST (California time.) It will be about indie publishing and learning what to do etc. You can listen LIVE here, or later on my YouTube Channel.

Finally, if you are truly shy, then social media can offer you ways to connect from your home.

  • Offer contests on your website,
  • Guest post and do written interviews on other sites
  • Form those important relationships with other writers online
  • Help promote others
  • Share helpful articles with your readers
  • Practice speaking in front of your camera and gradually become more confident
  • Offer podcasts on your own site so fans can hear your voice
  • Practice an interview with a close friend and get used to speaking
  • Take a class on public speaking
  • Attend writers’ conferences and network
  • Attend a writers’ group and gradually get out of your comfort zone

Looking generally at becoming an entrepreneur: If you had to take your best advice or inspirational thought and put it into one sentence or phrase, what would that be? 

Authors need to think of themselves as a brand, and their book as a product. [Click here to tweet this]

You can read the entire interview on Eric Gati’s the Daily Interview on June 24th.

So how do you define your own success as an author, or as an entrepreneur?

Watch my LIVE INTERVIEW with author Fee Johnson, on August 1st at 9 a.m. PST. It will be recorded as well. Do you have questions for her? Please send them to me at: Sonia@soniamarsh.com before August 1st. You can read her “My Gutsy Story” here.

2 Nominees Fee Johnson and me (Sonia Marsh)
2 Nominees Fee Johnson and me (Sonia Marsh)

We shall be discussing: While mental health issues are more freely discussed these days, it’s still difficult to approach someone who might have a problem. But ignoring it is not an option. With courage and great hope, Felicia Johnson deftly portrays the struggles of a girl with borderline personality disorder in Her (8th Street Publishing).
JOIN ME as I interview Felicia Johnson, author of the novel “Her”, about her work in mental health advocacy, journaling, writing and mentoring youth. 

July 28th, “My Gutsy Story®” by RITA GARDNER 

VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE JULY “My Gutsy Story®” STARTS ON JULY 31st AND ENDS ON AUGUST 13th.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 14th.

NOW Accepting story submissions now for our Award-winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

READ MORE HERE

MGS FINAL COVER Small

 We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

IMG_20140702_070759918

A Life Changing Moment–Java Davis

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20140714_075716

Gas Station

 “My Gutsy Story®” by Java Davis

I spent the summer before senior year of college working as a gas station attendant in Lodi, NJ.  I was 21.  When I think of that summer, I can only recall hot, sunny days, and bright, well-tended flowers in the beds around the station.  In the beginning of the summer, I couldn’t lift the hood of a Cadillac, they were so heavy.  By the end of the summer, I could pop any hood, reveling in my hard won muscle tone.

There were lots of chores, many more than pumping gas and checking oil.  I learned to stock supplies, rake the garden mulch, and paint the yellow trim around the pump islands.  I’d never seen a urinal before until I cleaned those bathrooms.  Every day, I’d arrive and put on my clean, crisp uniform.  At the end of the day, I’d drop it in the station’s laundry hamper, the thighs stained with the dirt from leaning over car engines, and smelling of gasoline fumes.

My coworkers are still clear to me.  There was the station manager, a cheerful, round little man reminiscent of Lou Costello.  There was the young man just starting out, this being his first job.  He focus was on one of the regular customers, a woman known as “the slut.”  He lived to see her decrepit car chugging into the station.  Another coworker was a retarded young man – in those days, retarded wasn’t a curse word.  He knew what he was, and he knew that the gas station job was as far as he would progress.

The last coworker was 19 years old, two years younger than I was.  We made the same money.  I saw the money as summer savings, to be spent during my senior year in college.  My young friend was earning a living, supporting a wife and baby.  He would often tell me how wonderful it was to go home to a loving wife and adorable baby.  I don’t like children and would frequently make retching noises.  I never asked if the baby was a boy or girl.  Baby and burden were the same words to me.

My adult life hadn’t even started yet.  I needed to finish college and settle on a career.  I wasn’t nearly ready to be anchored down.  He would tease me about it, asking me the same question every week: “So when are you getting married?”  And I would always give the same answer:  “I don’t have to.  You’ve already done it for me.”  Very soon, I understood that he was looking for me to validate his life.  I couldn’t ever do that.  I believed that his life was already derailed.

“So when are you getting married?”

“I don’t have to.  You’ve already done it for me.”

He seemed resigned to his fate, cheerfully trying to make it sound like true domestic bliss.  I thought he was crazy.

The summer was coming to an end.  Very soon, I would leave the gas station job and go back to school full-time.  I had just moved into an adorable little apartment.  I couldn’t wait to start the new term and to finally finish my college years.

Two weeks before the end, my boss called me over for a quiet conversation.  My young friend had blown his brains out.  The really sad part was that he botched the job and would be a vegetable for years to come.

I felt like I’d pulled the trigger myself.  When you’re young, everything revolves around you.  If only I’d been more supportive.  Ultimately and objectively, I feel pity and compassion for that poor baby, child, young adult, whose accident of conception drove Dad to such despair.

JAVA DAVIS BIO: I’m retired/disabled. I travel as I please and carve out my own hours for writing. My Jewish roots tend to creep a little into most of my work. Road trips, too. I love road trips and classic cars. I studied English and Linguistics in college. In graduate school, I studied typography and type design. The printing, advertising, and public relations fields had me hogtied for about 15 years. Which authors have inspired me? Ernest Hemingway for his terseness, Marge Piercy for her ability to get into people’s heads, and Robert Pirsig for showing me the value of a journey.

 

SONIA MARSH SAYS: What a terrible tragedy and this must have been a life-changing moment for you.

Join Java on Twitter: @javadavis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/java.davis

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/Uncmm9

Webspot: http://www.theroadtripwriter.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4970385.Java_Davis

CreateSpace: http://bit.ly/1lFJqys

Email: javadavis@live.com

Depression Carpenter

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Triptych

Amazon U.S.: http://amzn.to/MwXf5J.  Amazon U.K.: http://amzn.to/MBwK9V

Cowgirl

JavaCowgirl

Amazon U.S.: http://amzn.to/MhIOh4.  Amazon U.K.: http://amzn.to/MiZX7K

 

 

 

 

Commune

JavaCommune

Amazon U.S.: http://amzn.to/1f8CJ4M.  Amazon U.K.: http://amzn.to/1oXeCwj

 

 

 

 

On Becoming a Dinosaur

Amazon U.S.: http://amzn.to/KFun9y.  Amazon U.K.: http://amzn.to/OlFpxB

 

July 28th, “My Gutsy Story®” by RITA GARDNER 

VOTING FOR YOUR FAVORITE JULY “My Gutsy Story®” STARTS ON JULY 31st AND ENDS ON AUGUST 13th.

THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 14th.

NOW Accepting story submissions now for our Award-winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

READ MORE HERE

MGS FINAL COVER Small

 We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

IMG_20140702_070759918

Trust, Intuition, Listen, Become Gutsy and Change

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future and past

 

There are certain times in life when you are ready to make a change. It doesn’t matter what that change is, but in order to make that change, you need to:

“Stop hanging onto something that keeps you in your comfort zone.”  —Larry Jacobson 

  • Are you ready for a CHANGE?
  • Are you scared?
  • Can you visualize what that change would look like?
  • Do you trust your intuition?
  • Are you ready to become Gutsy?

 

Gutsy Living ™

is about taking risks in life, and making bold decisions and if I can’t do that, how can I write about it, and expect others to be courageous and follow their dreams?

So what’s my change? I have many going on right now, including:

  • Selling our House
  • Looking for a wonderful job to supplement my income as a writer
  • Applying for the Peace Corps which I’ve been wanting to do for many years before my sons get married and I have grandkids
  • Write another memoir based on experiences in different cultures
  • Interview and share stories of people I meet during my future Peace Corps work (country unknown as of now.)
  • Keep blogging, coaching and publishing the “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

What fascinates me about the Peace Corps?

  • It’s about the people and experiencing different cultures
  • New adventures
  • Meeting people who know how to be happy with their simple life
  • Learning to listen to others
  • Stop focusing on my own wants and needs (something we excel at in the developed world)
  • Learning to live in the present moment
  • Appreciating what we take for granted in the western world.

One of the important lessons I learned from my family’s year in Belize, was to not impose our American ways on the locals. Unfortunately, I was too hasty in my desire  to start a business in Belize. I made the mistake of assuming that creating a business the American way, would guarantee success. That hard work, honesty and dedication were the core principles and that we would be successful. Little did I know about the importance of taking the time to trust, and earn the trust of the locals. I did not listen to the advice given by our fellow expats about “getting to know the locals first, and  that this could take two years or more.”

This was a life lesson I shall remember to take with me on my future Peace Corps assignment. I have read several stories written by Peace Corps volunteers, and they share how they made the mistake of trying to change things before the locals trusted them. One PCV in Morocco said he finally understood the importance of drinking sweet tea with the locals before they had any desire to listen to him teach a basic computer class.

Unfortunately, many westerners believe our way is the right way, and everyone should do it our way. We need to adapt to their ways, not the other way round.

My friend, Janet Givens, is publishing her memoir: At Home on the Kazakh Steppe, about her Peace Corps experience in Kazakhstan.  She interviewed a fellow memoir writer and author friend,Ian Mathie , who guest posts about his 30 years in Africa, and the ten lessons he has learned. (You can read his fascinating stories on Janet’s blog here.)

“Africa thrives on proverbs. The first I ever learned has lasted me a lifetime and proved itself time and time again. So I’ll offer it to you now: 

Kila ndege hurukwa kwa bawa lake –

Every bird must fly on its own wings. Think about it, and then stretch out your own wings.”–Ian Mathie

The lessons:

  1. Look and listen more than talk
  2. Exploit people’s desires
  3. Let people choose; then they won’t give up
  4. Put ideas in contexts people understand and value
  5. Learn the system and get involved
  6. Use the local talent (including the sorcerers!)
  7. Choose your timing carefully
  8. Always be open, friendly, and co-operative
  9. Let people fly on their own wings
  10. Always be positive and avoid “don’ts”

 I’ve highlighted the 5 that I shall keep in my mind so as to avoid the mistakes I made in Belize.

And most important of all:

Are you ready to fly?

Every bird must fly on its own wings. Think about it, and then stretch out your own wings.

 

NOW Accepting story submissions now for our Award-winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

 READ MORE HERE

MGS FINAL COVER Small

 We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

IMG_20140702_070759918

“I Became the Man I Always Wanted to Marry” — Inge Bird

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Me full length

“I Became the Man I Always Wanted to Marry”

“My Gutsy Story®” by Inge Bird

A while ago a friend told me that my childhood experiences probably gave me the tooIs to deal with cancer. I have been giving her comment a lot of thought lately. Looking back, I can say my life journey (so far) as been one hell of a ride. I have no regrets. There have been points in my life where I seemed to always be swimming against the tide though.

My mother was an addict. Her drug of choice was codeine. Back in the 60s doctors (or maybe it was just our family doctor) wrote prescriptions anytime a patient asked for them. My mom ate codeine pills like they were candy and washed them down with good old-fashioned whisky. When I turned ten, she wanted me to join “the party.” I never liked the taste of alcohol so I pretended to go along, to keep from getting a beating. My dad worked a lot. He was pretty much an absent parent. I don’t blame him, when he was home he was the brunt of my mother’s anger.

Two months shy of my eighteenth birthday, I had a chance to get away from my abusive home-life and hit the road in a compact car, with two boys and set out for North Carolina. At night I slept in a sleeping bag outside closed businesses and looking back, I probably looked like a bonafide Hippie. I had no life skills and was pretty naïve, but I learned to be street smart pretty quickly. For the next few years I dated abusive men, before settling down and marrying a drunk. I believed I could change him. Don’t we all?

We had a son and that’s when I changed. I would not allow my child to grow up in the same environment I did. The cycle ended with me. I became independent. I left my husband. A few years later my dad had a serious heart attack and me and my son moved back to California.

I was working at a women’s clothing store, when one day I saw an ad in the local newspaper for a delivery person. It was the early 80s and women didn’t take delivery jobs, especially delivering “auto parts.” I got the job because I was the only person who brought a resume to the interview, I had zero experience delivering stuff and knew less about cars.

My manager at the clothing store thought I was crazy to take such a “menial” job and insisted it was not lady-like. She gave me all kinds of grief over my decision, but I was about to double my pay, get health insurance for me and my son and become a Teamster.

I would be delivering auto parts to local repair shops for a dealership. Learning my job was easy. Working with the male employees was another story. Some resented that I was doing a job that “rightfully” belonged to a man who needed to support his family. “

“What’s wrong with you?” they would ask. “Couldn’t you find a man to take care of you?”

Sexual harassment on the job was a common occurrence in the 80s and working in a male-dominated auto industry was no exception. The company’s break room walls were lined with centerfold pictures from Penthouse and Playboy. If I wanted to buy a drink from the soda machine, I had to push the “tits,” ass,” or “bush” buttons. One day I brought in a centerfold picture of a naked male and taped it to the break room wall. All hell broke loose! The guys were “creeped out.” and it was immediately removed. When I complained about the double standard, I became the company “bitch.” The men’s pictures of naked women stayed.

Mind you, my mother had called me lots more creative names than the men so I learned to tune those guys out. I was also gone most of the day, delivering auto parts. I rarely got help loading my small Toyota truck, except with the heavy auto engines. If I was going to do a man’s job, then I would have to do it alone.

I think working in that type of environment made me stronger,not just physically, but emotionally. It taught me to never give up.

Then I remarried. My dad died soon after and I found myself in “crisis.” Not giving in I went to group counseling and read self-help books. Not giving up I started college, wanting to learn more about the world. Soon everything I thought I believed in was challenged and I became what Rush Limbaugh likes to call a “Femi-nazi.” My new husband was overwhelmed by the “new me” and decided it was better if we parted ways.

Still I continued my education and new-found activism, like organizing and participating in marches against the war. I fought to save the planet, the whales and whatever else needed saving. I became the man I always wanted to marry (just kidding). I was happy with my independence. I would never be a victim again.

Then cancer smacked me in the butt. I had a new husband. My son was now grown. They became my support system. I owe them a great deal for helping me. I don’t know if I would have had the same successful outcome without them, but I do know I was not going down without a fight.

So my friend is probably right. Not only did my childhood prepare me for the fight against cancer but all of my life experiences laid down the groundwork for that battle.

I am not alone. I have met plenty of others who have had a “rocky” period in their lives, and it is those persons who seem to do the best. Not all of them survive, but they never give up trying. They keep showing up.

Wasn’t it Woody Allen who said, “The key to success is to keep showing up?”

INGE BIRD: I am a stage 4 rectal cancer survivor (cancer free since June 2011), speaker, healthy food advocate/activist, vegan, practicing Buddhist, ostomate,  and well-being coach. I volunteer at UCI Medical Center Infusion Center, where my main goal is to offer hope to patients getting cancer treatments. My story is also featured on the American Cancer Society’s Website “Stories of Hope.” Website: www.rectalcancermyass.wordpress.com

Join Inge on Facebook:

SONIA MARSH SAYS: You are one “gutsy” woman Inge, and I love your style, and proactive approach to life. The statement you made says it all:

“ I became the man I always wanted to marry.”

You are amazing, and I admire what you have done with your life.

July 21st, “My Gutsy Story®” by JAVA DAVIS

July 28th, “My Gutsy Story®” by RITA GARDNER 

 

NOW Accepting story submissions now for our Award-winning “My Gutsy Story®” Anthology

READ MORE HERE

MGS FINAL COVER Small

 We just won our 4th Award for the Anthology. 

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR AWARDS.

IMG_20140702_070759918

Volunteer in Africa: Tanzania, Moshi, Zanzibar, Mt. Kilimanjaro

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Photo credit Peace corps website
Photo credit Peace corps website

As some of you know from my recent posts, I’m in a period of transition, re-evaluating my next move. I’ve recently trademarked:

GUTSY LIVING™

and I’m looking for other adventures, including the Peace Corps. On July 11th, I have an appointment with a Peace Corps recruiter to ask many questions, including my desire to blog for the Peace Corps, and more. Here is my list of questions for my recruiter appointment.

Peace Corps Questions

  • I am fluent in French. How likely is it they will send me to a French speaking country?
  • As a published author and blogger, can I blog for PC site?
  • Do we get to bring our laptops?
  • How likely is it that we have Internet in our country? Senegal, Madagascar, Benin, Vanuatu?
  • Any Caribbean countries that need a French speaker?
  • What about personal supplies like face cream, sunblock, toothpaste we like, etc? Can we receive care packages? How often?
  • When do we need to start the doctor/dentist visits?
  • I have a degree in Environmental Science but prefer to work with helping women and children. Is that possible?
  • Can you connect me with other women 56+ who are PC volunteers?
  • Can I work as a trainer for PC?
  • How easy is it to get a job as a recruiter for baby boomers when I return? Is it a full-time paying job?
  • Do recruiters get to travel around the US?
  • Are there other jobs available for older PC volunteers when they return?
  • An ex-PC volunteer sent me this. Is it true that I could perhaps apply for an assignment for 6 months ? “Peace Corps Response is now open to non RPCVs.  It’s a shorter term assignment, usually about 6 months, and they take volunteers with specific skills.  In your case, I’d imagine organizing and marketing.  And the fact that you are already fluent in French can be a real asset.”

Yelena Parker is a global citizen who has worked in over twenty countries, and who just completed 4 months in Moshi, Tanzania, followed by Zanzibar. I first interviewed her with Monika Fox who founded “Give a Heart to Africa” where Yelena volunteered for two months.

 

 

Follow-up Interview with Yelena Parker after her 4 months volunteering in Moshi and Zanzibar, Tanzania. She also talks about her 6-day climb up

Mt. Kilimanjaro.

 

Yelena Parker is an expert on expatriate life and has published a guidebook-meets-memoir called Moving Without Shaking, available now in Kindle format, and very soon in print format.

Yelena Parker Book Moving_Without_Shaking_Book-Cover-200x300
Click on cover to order on Amazon

 

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