This is the fourth post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

Yesterday I wrote about how I almost quit writing my book for various reasons throughout the process. Today I want to talk about finishing.

Now there are two ways to finish. The first is to quit. Sometimes that’s a legitimate option. But it wasn’t for me. With this book, the only way to finish it would be to see it in print and hold it in my own hands. If anyone else got a copy, that was just a bonus.

So how did I navigate the choppy waters of nearly quitting to reach my literary destination?

1) I Had a Plan

That may seem very obvious, especially considering that my book is all about the process of developing a strategic plan. Actually, the idea of writing a book on the topic of planning without having a plan is rather ridiculous. That was pretty much how I started though.

Perhaps I had a vague plan. What I really had was a dream without legs. And it never would have been finished without having a plan.

The trick for me was to use my own process to plan out the rest of the book. I had a ton of raw content, perhaps 75% of the book. But to finish I needed the final 25%. I also needed a better title, a cover, the layout, a publication date, an ISBN, a book launch, and a good hard edit.

Honestly, finishing the book was 90% of the work. The plan saved me.

2) I Had a Deadline

Early in the writing process I had announced my intention to publish my book about six months later. I thought that setting the deadline and making it public would help me get there. It didn’t.

It was premature and much too big of a promise. I could have published at that point, gotten the same pats on the back, and even would have sold some copies. But I wouldn’t have been proud of it. It would have been rushed and incomplete. It would have haunted me.

[Side note: I would have learned more if I had taken that approach. Maybe the third or fourth version of the book would have been something I could be proud of. Perhaps the feedback and would have made it even better. The perfectionist in me couldn’t do it though. But with the next book…I’ll probably err on the side of too soon than too late or almost never.]

Once I could see the book nearing completion, I set a real deadline: June 14th, 2013. And instead of dreading the date as it approached like I did with the first deadline, this new deadline empowered me. It did everything a good deadline is supposed to do: it focused me, it forced me to overcome obstacles, and it forced me to deliver.

Why June 14th? Originally, I just thought it would be cool to release my book on the same day the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, was released in theaters. It was a few weeks later before I realized that on June 14th, 2010 I had written my book proposal. I’m not a superstitious person, but that seemed like a good sign.

3) I Stopped Learning

This one may seem counter-intuitive. I’m all about education and learning, and throughout the book writing process I was going to business training events, reading books, and listening to a ton of podcasts. New ideas, new examples, and new stories would find their way into the book.

But at some point it got to be too much. If the book was ever going to get finished, I would have to stop the consumption of new content. It was slowing me down and it was counter-productive. I had to finish soon or the book would never be finished.

I probably didn’t unplug completely, but it sure felt like I went cold turkey. And I’d do it again if it meant finishing a big project.

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!

This is the third post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

As I look back on the year since Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite was published, it’s hard to remember all of the times it almost died. Three years is a long time to write a book or work on any kind of creative project.

Thankfully I was able to push through and finish what I started. But along the way, there were specific reasons I almost killed it before it was born:

1) I’m an Impostor (part 1)

In May of 2010 when I started writing the book, I really was an impostor. Here I was, writing a book about strategic planning because I was teaching others how do do strategic planning, yet I wasn’t really doing it myself. I was doing some things around it, which is kind of like a health and fitness coach reading a workout book while eating a donut.

So I felt like a hypocrite (and I was), but at the same time I really was helping my students and clients. That counted for enough to get me going, and I didn’t let it stop me (though it wouldn’t be enough to finish…more on that tomorrow).

2) No One Will Read It

Every writer dreams of having a best-seller. But here I was, writing a book on strategic planning for small business owners. Really exciting, mass market stuff! Did I even have a chance?

Probably not. But I didn’t write it to be a best-seller. I wrote it to help the people who needed clarity and focus. For small business owners and those who dreamed of starting a business, so that they can be intentional with their limited resources and take action (the right actions) to improve their odds.

I also wrote it for myself. It was content that I needed personally, and a massive project that fulfilled my desire to write a quality book. In the end it didn’t matter how many people buy it or how many people read it (different metrics!).

3) The Colossal Waste of Time

Was writing this book a bad business decision? Perhaps. When you factor the amount of time spent writing and producing it with the size of the audience interested in the topic, I was on course to make way less than a dollar per hour.

But two things pushed me forward…the burning desire to write a book and the fact that a book is about more than just selling books. The desire speaks to my childhood dream of being an author. The purpose of the book beyond selling is that it positions me as an expert, it can be used when I teach courses or lead seminars, and it leads to media exposure and even coaching clients. (I’ll share the first year financial results in a future post, but I can tell you now it’s not easy to quantify.)

4) I Have No Audience

Anyone can write a book these days, but not everyone can sell books. If you’re a celebrity, you can even hire someone to write your book for you and still make the best-seller list. Easy, and the book can be total fluff, but it’s money in the bank.

For regular people, writing a book is less of a slam dunk. Moving copies requires having a platform…an audience of people who know who you are and want what you’re selling.

I had no such audience. What I did have was a small collection of friends, students, and clients who knew the power of my process and could support a limited production of copies.

Instead of building a platform, I wrote a book. That’s probably a mistake, but I went in knowing it. The book is helping me grow my platform over time.

5) I’m an Impostor (part 2)

“Are you even an entrepreneur?” asked the critics and skeptics. Some were real people, most were in my head. But it was a question that caused me to almost quit at the very end of the process. Here I was, working a full-time job making a great salary, and my book has the word “entrepreneur” in the title. Running my business part-time and on the side wouldn’t be enough to satisfy some people.

It took some time, but I’ve become very comfortable with the word entrepreneur. To me it’s not about being Richard Branson or Mark Zuckerberg…it’s about creating value. There are entrepreneurs in the workforce. They creatively add value for the people they work for. There are big entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurs. Some make it, and some don’t. But they are part of the struggle to improve our world and make their mark, and if they are successful, they’ll have a well-deserved financial reward to go with it.

So yes, I’m an entrepreneur. Deal with it if you don’t like my definition. I’m too busy to care what you think anymore.

6) I’m Too Busy

Working a full-time job, being a husband and father, buying a house and moving, changing consulting clients…those were easy compared to starting a new public school system. Or maybe that was just the last straw.

When I was appointed to our city’s new school board and charged with helping complete the separation from the county system, I was honored but I had no idea what I was getting into. For 10 months, the five of us dealt with lawyers, consultants, tax assessors, financial managers, state officials, the media, the public, and so much more. It was one of the biggest projects I’ve ever been a part of, and we were successful in record time.

But it cost me an entire year of writing. I simply shelved the book project and didn’t think about it much. Maybe one day I’ll write a book about that experience!

7) It’s No Good

Doing things well is at my core. I’m addicted to excellence. So even though I was self-publishing, this book had to be as good as any other business book out on the market.

So how often did I think it was a steaming pile of crap? Probably every day for the first 30 months. But then it started to take shape. I started to carve out the junk and found a sparkling gem inside. It took a team to get it out the door, but we did it.

Is it perfect? No. I still find a typo, or think of changes I want to make. But those things, thankfully, didn’t keep me from finishing the book.

Finishing is very different from not quitting. I’ll talk about finishing tomorrow.

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!

This is the second post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

Writing a book seems like an overwhelming task to anyone who hasn’t done it. But for me the writing itself wasn’t hard. The volume of words required didn’t scare me. The most difficult thing was finding the intersection of free time and inspired time.

It took me three years to write Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. That’s 1,095 days, or 26,280 hours. Yet I probably only spent about 200 hours actually writing. And I can honestly say that about 10,000 words–a quarter of the total word count–was created on two long flights in about 8 hours.

I’m not a professional writer. I cannot simply write a set number of words a day. My daily word counts are either prolific or next to nothing. Here’s how I overcame myself and got down to writing:

1) Break It Up

With the chapter outline in place via my book proposal, I took the next step and broke each chapter into sections. Some had a lot of sections, some only a few. But now instead of having to write 18 chapters, I simply needed to write 70-80 sections. It’s the same content, but bite-sized. And it’s a whole lot easier to sit down and write a blog post than an entire book. Yet all those blog post sized sections equaled a book.

2) Find Your Zone

The best place for me to write is on a flight from Atlanta to Denver or Seattle. With no wifi, strapped to a seat (hopefully in first class) and headphones in, I was comfortable in my pod of seclusion, creativity, and focus. That allowed me to dig in deeply for hours at a time. No interruptions from kids, phone calls, or social media…anyone know where I can buy an old airplane seat cheap?

3) The Vomit Method

When all else fails and procrastination has you by the throat, sometimes it’s best to just start typing. I tend to auto-correct as I write. If I spell something incorrectly, I fix it as I go. It’s a horrible habit for being productive, but I am who I am. However, if I get stuck and I just start writing, sometimes in the mess of words I find some content worth washing off and keeping. I end up being as much editor as writer, but it works.

4) Formatting for Progress

This one comes down to personal preference. For me, I needed to format my MS Word file to look like a book. Some people can just start writing and format it later. I needed the structure of seeing something similar to what it’s going to look like on paper. If that’s what it takes to get writing, do it. Just don’t go overboard…you’ll likely have to completely reformat it when it’s finished anyway (I did, more on that later). [Note: I’m learning to use Scrivener now, which should be better in the long run, right?]

So that’s an inside look at my writing process. But that’s only part of the story. Finishing is completely different!

Do you have any secrets or techniques from your writing process to share?

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!

This is the first post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

It’s hard to say exactly when the idea for the book was born. I can certainly look back to my childhood for the general idea of writing a book. In the third grade, as part of a mini-book, template-based assignment, I wrote Some Snakes Have Tails. I cringe at the poor writing and worse artwork today, but back then I was proud!

So I pretty much always knew I wanted to write a book. I started a lot of them, some never getting past a cool title idea or a few paragraphs (and some may get written yet!). But four years ago, three things converged to get me started.

1) The Seed of Confidence

In 2009 I began investing in my crazy idea to start a business. I was frustrated with the company I was working for. I’d been passed over for promotion twice and figured I’d just promote myself rather than working that hard for someone else. I started going to 48 Days and Free Agent Academy events. I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet, but I liked learning and dreaming.

2) Growth of an Idea

Out of those events I met my mentor and friend, Chuck Bowen. Chuck is an uber-coach. He helped me see my strategic superpower, and through him I began teaching classes for Free Agent Academy. Using his Simple Strategic Planning template and process, we co-led the initial classes for my students. Those classes were the genesis of the book. I listened to them again and again, capturing notes and reformatting the structure of the lessons. Those notes became a core of content around which I was able to write the rest of the book.

[Shortly after those first classes we did a seminar on financial management that flowed so well I used it to quickly create my first e-book, Show Me the Money. It needs an update, but it’s still pretty good and you can get it for free by signing up for my Newsletter.]

3) The Structure to Support the Idea

The concept was an unformed mess until I purchased Michael Hyatt’s Writing a Winning Book Proposal e-book. I didn’t really intend to submit a proposal to an agent or a publishing company, but the e-book gave me a framework from which to start writing. It was via this simple but powerful product that I was able document the purpose of my book and create the chapter structure. Without that structure, I would have struggled to tie the pieces of the book together in a way that not only made sense to the reader, but allowed me as a writer to dig in as I did.

I wrote out my book proposal for Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite (the working title was Make It Look Easy) on June 14th, 2010. Three years to the day later, on June 14th, 2013, the book was published and available for sale.

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!