274 – Unleash Your Inner Author: Amy Collette’s Expert Advice

Karen Yankovich 0:09
Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to a new episode of The Good girls get rich podcast. I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. And I’m here with Amy Collette today. And I’m excited to have Amy here with us today. Amy is a book Alchemist. She was visionary leaders leave their legacies imprint, Amy is a writing coach and author, a speaker, and a crystal clear voice for intentional change. She inspires audiences to make the kind of impact they desire by teaching them how to deeply connect through the power of story. And she’s a passionate and upbeat speaker her audacious mission is to help raise the positive vibration of the planet who doesn’t want that she supports thought leaders in creating deep human connection and lasting impact by sharing their transformational stories through her unleash your inner author coaching system, she takes their powerful messages to the world in a bigger way, as successful first time authors. Amy, I’m so happy to have you here today.

Amy Collette 1:03
So excited to be here with you, Karen. You know,

Karen Yankovich 1:06
yeah, Amy and I met a couple of months ago, a couple weeks ago. And you know, I just know that a lot of the people that listen to this show, are really looking to move into a bigger place on the planet in the next 12 months. There’s some kind of transformation I had for you. And Amy, and a lot of times having a book is a part of that transformation. And, you know, it can seem overwhelming, it can seem daunting. So I thought that this would be a great conversation to have, so that Amy can give us some tips on things that we can do to get started with that process. But before we do that, Amy, I mean, we you everybody heard your official bio, tell us a little bit about you, and what brought you to doing what it is you’re doing as an author coach.

Amy Collette 1:54
Yeah, well, you know, like, so many of us, I have a long and winding, you know, work history and story interests, and all that kind of stuff. And it all felt really random, until I wrote my first book. And my first book was called the gratitude connection. So I had been a professional writer and editor for a couple of decades. So I knew that stuff pretty well. But, but writing and publishing my own book was a whole different journey, because I was writing from my voice, first of all, instead of the voice of a company or, you know, another entity. And so that was really a process to learn that, then I had to learn the whole publishing process, which was really interesting. And I made all the mistakes. So I learned the hard way. And you know, I never want anybody else to have to go through that painful process, right?

Karen Yankovich 2:48
Like we’ve made the mistakes, let us make the mistakes. And yeah, you know, we can help you get to where you want to get faster, without having to I mean, you could Google anything, right? You can find YouTube videos for everything you do. Do it the long way or the hard way. Right. I like I’m more interested in wasting my time these days?

Amy Collette 3:06
Well, and exactly just what you said, Karen, is you can absolutely do anything on your own write a book, you can build a house, you know?

Karen Yankovich 3:16
Well, I don’t know if I can build a house. But maybe I suppose somebody can given

Amy Collette 3:20
enough time, right? Making the mistakes and how to fix them. You know, you can do anything. Absolutely. But if you’ve ever had coaching, you know how valuable that is, you know, as a business person, as a writer, as whatever you’re doing, having the insight and support of somebody who’s been there a bunch of times before you have counsel a lot. So that’s how I

Karen Yankovich 3:46
did okay, but you didn’t do that. Right. So tell me when you when you started, when you mentioned though, that writing your first book was really what made you know what path you were on? What, what part of that? Is it? Is it the fact that you did all the hard work and thought, oh, my gosh, I did all this work. Let me help other people do that.

Amy Collette 4:08
No, it was more organic than that, really, because people started coming to me to edit their manuscripts, you know, so they had, like me had written their book in a vacuum and taken forever doing it. And then give me the manuscript. And sometimes they’re great. And other times, I just have my head in my hands thinking, Oh, my goodness, I wish this person would have talked to me first, right, you know, so I could give them some idea about what to think about before they write the book. So that gave me that aha moment of where I wanted to start working with people at idea stage, rather than all the way that and when they have to rewrite the book. I want to help them write the book in the right way the first time that makes so that’s really my passion is is helping people get super clear and very grounded in what they’re talking about. And really crystal clear with their own message sometimes that takes a little bit of, of working through, and then they can bring it to the world. I

Karen Yankovich 5:10
love that. So but so tell me this though, like, even before I started this podcast, it took me longer. I mean years to decide what I was calling it than it did to actually do the work of recording it and getting it out there. So how do like So assuming that I’m not the only person out there that has? And I’m not even gonna say it’s perfectionism? I mean, I guess it is right. But I don’t feel like it. Generally, I suffer from perfectionism. But it just seems like such a big thing to get a book out there. How do you get off of that piece of it? How do you help people get off of that piece of it? Like, I got this idea? This is what I do. I know, there’s a book in me. But I don’t know, not only where, you know, what makes sense from the perspective of my expertise, but also what, what makes sense from what people are looking for. Right? Like we I mean, you listen, we want to write a book, but we also want to write a book that that is compelling and that people are going to buy, right, so. So how so tell us a little bit about that process?

Amy Collette 6:09
Yeah, that’s that’s a huge question. I know, I’m aware. Well, you know, I’ll start with the beginning, which is, you know, how do you even get started, you’ve got this idea, you’ve got some compelling message or experience that you want to share? And how do you even get going on that? And so that’s why I created a whole process for it. Because it’s really like any other big daunting project, you do it a piece at a time, right? It’s like the elephant you do at wire a terabyte at a time, right? And so you can’t if you’re constantly thinking in that macro way about, oh, my gosh, it’s this huge thing, how am I going to get it done? Breaking it down into components really helps. And so that’s why I start with that. And I do that before people even start writing. So people get clear on exactly what their message is, what their mission is, who they’re doing it for, what their own goals are. And, you know, we also talk about those things that might come up and trip you up, you know, like your fears, your procrastination, your perfectionism, those things you talked about. And we come up with a plan. So it’s, I call it the roadmap, but it’s a detailed outline. So just like if you were building a house, you don’t just start whacking boards together, you know, and hoping it turns into a house at some point, right, you have a plan, you have a foundation. And so I really strongly believe in spending some time on that foundation. And now you’ve got it laid out in front of you. And you can do an A doesn’t seem like such a big scary monster.

Karen Yankovich 7:43
Amazing. Can you tell us a little about the first couple steps? Yeah, so

Amy Collette 7:48
the first couple of steps I think are absolutely key. And I see this is different than a lot of people do it. Some people just start banging out words on a page. And, and and they’ll you know, fix it later. But I really believe in that, in that getting it clear first. So I do this in a two day retreat. And so

Unknown Speaker 8:10
one of the things that are both

Amy Collette 8:13
BOTH Yeah, I do it either way. But I do it in a small group or one on one. And it’s this kind of magical process. Because all those things that I that I just mentioned the mission, or the readers, you know who your audience is, I call it your your reader soulmates. And then your own goals as an author, and then creating that roadmap, though, it’s all so intertwined, that it’s really helpful to do it in kind of an intense way, all together, you know. So we go through that in two intensive days. And it you know, it’s like your book is born. It really gives people some aha moments gives them tremendous clarity, sometimes not just for their book, but for their entire business. So because we really dive deep into a lot of questions and real introspection, because, you know, you could say, Oh, who’s your who’s your reader? And you can say, oh, it’s people just like me, you know, or it’s everyone. And, you know, that’s if it’s for everyone, it’s not for anyone, because you’ve got to, you’ve got to let your reader know, this book is exactly for you. You know, they gotta know, oh, my gosh, this is the person I’ve been waiting for. Right? I can’t wait to book, right. So we get that clarity, and then you have a plan to start writing. So that’s where you really start. That’s

Karen Yankovich 9:40
interesting. That’s interesting. You know, it’s so funny that you say that you equate that to your business because it is I do think it’s so important to get that clarity on your business. And I mean, listen, I’m gonna sit here and tell you I’m having this conversation with you. I do not have a book of my own out there yet, but I have had many conversations about that. And there was a person that Elena if you’re listening to to this, I love you and And, you know, I am still, we’re gonna get the book out one of these days. But I had a conversation just like that with somebody that I had done some work with. And we spent some time talking about exactly who the person was for what the book was for. And then, two hours later, I my phone rings, like my actual phone rang, it wasn’t like, I got an email. And it was somebody that had seen me speak at an event, two or three years prior to this, who had my business card, and on my business card, my phone number was on there, right? My business phone number was on there. And she’s like, she was a real estate agent. So real estate agents, you know, they tend to get a lot of money. And then, you know, all at once, right, so she had made a big sale. And she’s like I am, I’ve been waiting to call you, I really want to work with you. And it was literally the exact person I had described two hours earlier. And it feels like dropped out of the sky. It was so cool. Because, you know, again, she had seen me a few years before, so it’s not like, you know, so the stage is always set, right? But when I just believe if I can get a little woowoo here, when you have that clarity, and you put that clarity out to the universe, the universe says, oh, okay, boom, here you go. Right. And it’s so it’s, it’s not easy to have that clarity without somebody helping you with that clarity. And this person, by the way, bought our VIP offer, she bought a VIP offer. So it was, you know, many 1000s of dollars. So it was so cool. It was so cool. I literally like and gave me her credit card. Like right there on the phone. I called I called you know Halina back and I was like, You are not gonna believe what just happened? Not gonna believe I do believe it. I do believe it. That’s exactly what, that’s exactly what we want to happen. Right? So most of the authors you work with, then their book, and their book is intertwined with their business. Like they’re not fiction books, or their their business books are like, tell us a little bit about that. Right? Because I guess I’m just assuming that, because that’s who I’m sure most of our listeners are. But But is that mostly what you do? Yes,

Amy Collette 11:57
you’re exactly right. So most of the people I work with, they’re entrepreneurs, they’re speakers of maybe maybe both, in most cases, both. And they are just really on fire about their message, you know, they’ve been through some Trant transformation themselves. Usually, not in a not in the happiest way. And I just say that transformation often comes through some, you know, change that is difficult. And so it’s how we’ve moved through that it’s, it’s really the lessons learned, it’s that silver lining, it’s that, what can we take forward from this, to better our lives and to help other people better their lives. So that’s really what we’re doing over here. We don’t do fiction, we don’t do children’s books, just because that’s not my expertise. And I really want to help people get their message and connect with the people they most want to serve. So it is intertwined with their business, with their speaking career, really, with their movement or their mission. You know, so this is this is people who really want to, you know, change the world, one one reader at a time. So that’s what we who we love to work with.

Karen Yankovich 13:13
So as so as you’re taking people on this journey, right, so now they’ve made the start, right, and now they’re midway on their journey, their books not ready yet. Are there? Is there anything that you see, that surprises you or surprises them? Like how, like, when you’re in this process, which, you know, what is tell us a little bit about that? Like, what is it? What is starting to shift in your business or life as this book is starting to become a reality? Yeah, that’s

Amy Collette 13:42
a really insightful question. Because I see a couple of things. One is, in some of these things, people do not anticipate. I do because I’ve seen it so many times. Right, so eight, right. The first one is, what is actually it’s a psychological term called the valley of despair.

Karen Yankovich 14:04
You know, rally of despair is that because after

Amy Collette 14:07
you get all this clarity, and you’re so excited, you’re just like, oh my god, this feels like my dream is actually coming true. Now. This is so cool. It’s just what I’ve been waiting for what I’ve been putting off for years, you know, and then when you actually get started on any big project, you know, you run into some barriers, and it might be procrastination, it might be you know, your business is taking off and you’re super busy now how am I going to find time to write the book? Or you just, you know, that it can be procrastination can be all perfectionism pops up all these things? I call them fear dragons, and they’re circling around and they have something to teach us, you know? So yeah, you know, all of those things are an opportunity to learn and to grow from and so, that’s where the coaching really comes in to is like, let’s talk about what really going on isn’t really time or let’s let’s dig into this a little bit more. Because often people, you know, most of our books, there’s a memoir aspect. So there’s personal stories that

Karen Yankovich 15:13
are interesting. Yeah, right. And so

Amy Collette 15:15
that leads me to the second point, which is that vulnerability, you know, so people are getting really real and raw here, and they’re having to work through some stuff maybe that they haven’t fully worked through yet. Now writing it bringing up and bring it into the public eye, is a whole different thing. You know, so it’s another level of working through that stuff. And so that personal development that actually happens, as you’re writing the book, as you’re becoming an author, is something that people also don’t expect. But it’s a beautiful, it’s not just a byproduct, it actually is part of the process. And it makes the book in your message even more powerful, because you’re really digging into your, your deeper story, like I work with a lot of speakers. So they’re used to telling their backstory, but in a super abbreviated way from stage, right, just like I did, you know, at the beginning of the podcast write, you know, say a little bit of something. But of course, there’s a ton behind that, that that you can work through in your book you can even expand upon in your book. And so they get to see themselves in a different way, because they’re telling that story. And, and it just usually makes the book even deeper and more valuable than they had even planned on it being. Wow,

Karen Yankovich 16:38
I love that. So let’s fast forward. Now the books ready. It’s in their hands. You know, you mentioned that a lot of your, you work with a lot of speakers. And I can tell you that I’m I’m quite sure that first thing that happens is their speaker fees increase, right, because now they have a book as they’re showing up. Right. So tell us a little bit about is that first of all, is that true? And if so, what else? What other kinds of things? Are they starting to experience now that their book is actually in their hand? Yeah.

Amy Collette 17:05
Well, I would say that for most of the authors I work with impact is their number one driving force, right? Of course, finger Speedo.

Karen Yankovich 17:14
True. You said that. I love that you said that. Because you know, it’s so funny. So many people think it’s about income. But I think the income is feeds the impact. Right. So So I think that most of the people, and I think most people that are listening to the show, right now, when I ask people, you know, I remember a couple years ago, at the end of the year, I was I had in my shoes linked up group program, we have we had a group weekly group call, and we I always just kind of went around the room and said, What’s everybody most looking forward to in the next year, whatever. And not one single person had an income goal, every single person had an impact goal. And I was like, and I let it all go around. I’m like, Did you guys catch that? You know, like, so many people think that their business is about the impact with the the income, but the income is because of the impact, right? So the book actually comes out even more. Exactly.

Amy Collette 18:10
And that’s what’s really cool. So So number one is the impact where as an author, there’s no greater thing that can happen, then someone comes up to you and says, your book changed my life. I mean, I’ve had that happen. I have authors call me all the time to say, Oh, you’ll never you’ll never believe this. What happened at the mall yesterday or whatever, where somebody came up and hug them and told them that, you know, or they get an email. It’s, it’s amazing. It’s that’s what we do it for, you know, but yeah, I also so I’m I give a class where I talk about some of the impacts and and bigger stages that people are able to get on. Like, I have a wonderful PR and media expert in New York. And I asked her just point blank, I said, does it help your clients get on TV? If they have a book? And she said, Absolutely. She’s in a matter of fact, they’re probably not going to get on TV if they don’t have a book. Right? You know, it was I was surprised that she was that, you know, adamant about it. But that’s really true where so I’ve seen people I’ve have an author who I got a call out of the blue one day, and they said, Hey, we want to fly you out to New York to be on the today’s show. Oh, wow. Oh, cool. I was pretty exciting. She told me until a few hours beforehand straight from my text because I got something happening. So that was pretty exciting. And then other people have been onstage with Les Brown and big motivational speakers like that, you know, national speaking tours. And so yeah, they can command bigger stages Bigger, bigger or fees for sure. But that also all adds up to getting in front of more people. So they can make that impact. And then I always say that once somebody sees you on stage, they fall a little bit in love with you. And they want to take something out, and it gives you your, it gives

Karen Yankovich 20:17
you that credibility that helps you command those, though. And it’s not even when I talk about higher prices, I’m not talking about overcharging. Right, I’m talking about creating these big fat juicy packages, that you now have the credibility to get contracts for.

Amy Collette 20:35
Yeah, yeah, it’s really cool to see that. And sometimes it happens, a speaker is, is already out there and being asked, you know, hey, where’s your book, and they don’t have a book yet. But other times, it happens really the other way around where people become an author first, and then have that demand just automatically start start getting them on stages. So that’s what’s really fun. Of course, you know, the more you work at it, the more stages you get on but Right, right, right. And the more stages you’re on, the more stages you get, because people see you. And it’s, you know, it’s kind of a self perpetuating system. So it’s really fun to see that happen for my authors. That’s awesome.

Karen Yankovich 21:19
That’s awesome. So tell me a little bit about how you serve people. So you’ve got this program, and you’ve got this system. If I’m listening to this show right now, and I’m like, Alright, Amy, I want to I want to I want to learn more, how can I get to start to get to know a little bit more about you and the kinds of work that

Amy Collette 21:35
you do? Yeah, so I have lots of ways to to find out more, you know, my website, unleash your inner author.com. And I have a Facebook group called positively powered, that’s the name of my publishing company.

Karen Yankovich 21:50
Is that a public group that anybody can join? Or is that just for your clients?

Amy Collette 21:54
It’s a public group. Yeah. Great. Well, so

Karen Yankovich 21:56
we’ll link to all of that in the notes for this. Yeah, yeah.

Amy Collette 21:58
And I’ll also give you a link for a free kind of guidebook that people can work through, because you mentioned earlier, how do you know if your book is even a viable thing? Like, is it? Is it a good idea? Is it going to help people is it worth doing, and that guide book helps you figure that out and helps you sort of see it laid out on paper. So that’s really handy. And so I love to help people just, you know, kind of prime the pump get their juices going in their brain about how they can do this. But yeah, so there’s lots of ways to get started. And I have a YouTube channel too, that has a lot of recording. So I do a free workshop in my group every month. And in fact, you were on it. Yes, that was

Karen Yankovich 22:44
about how we could use LinkedIn and PR to you know, get your get, you know, as an author to start to show up.

Amy Collette 22:51
Yeah. And just so I can give you some feedback. It was terrifically useful. So you know, you get both Karen and I at the same time, yeah. Video, you

Karen Yankovich 23:00
have it. So that’s on your YouTube channel? Make sure we link to that as well.

Amy Collette 23:05
Yeah, and isn’t it great, I got terrific feedback on it. Because I think a lot of a lot of people are not, not digging into the absolute treasure that LinkedIn is, and that it can be for your business and for your speaking career for you know, again, visibility as an author gives you that credibility. And most people have their book in their banner on LinkedIn, you know, because they’re proud of it, and they want to, as they shouldn’t be a part of your brand. It’s part of how you put yourself out there in the world. And your book really represents you out in the world. And so it’s a it’s a great way to connect with people and and find a larger audience than you might. Any other way. Right.

Karen Yankovich 23:51
Awesome. Awesome. So what’s on deck for you this upcoming next? Three months? Six months, 12 months?

Amy Collette 23:59
Yes, well, I am launching my new book called unleash your impact. And that really is for people who are those those thought leaders, those visionary people who have a message, and have been carrying it around in their head for probably a long time and want to want to get it out? So it’s a way to get started on your book? Yeah, so that’s really fun and exciting, and just getting that out there and in the world, so that’s my, that’s really my big next push and launch is, is the book because I want to help as many people as you know, you hear a lot of people say that they want to write a book, and very few actually do it. Right, you know, because a they don’t know how they don’t know where to start. Right. And they often need some support to get it done. You know, and so that’s why you asked me about my process earlier. It’s actually kind Have a many pronged approach, not just a one sort of one phase solution, because there’s an entire course that I teach along with a coaching program. And then there’s also a community, there’s my free community on Facebook, but this is a, this is a community of people who are right in the trenches with you, as you’re writing your book, you know, they’re going through all the things, you know, the excitement, the thrill, the fears, the just trying to figure out all the timing, and all the different pieces that go together, and it’s so nice for people to be part of that community and realize a they’re not alone. They’re not the only weirdo going through the problem, or thinking they are, you always think we’re the only ones who have that issue. But of course, there’s a whole world of people who are going through the same issues as you are. And so it’s just that nice support and community for people to get support and also offer that to other people have the accountability that a group provides, as you know, that that really counts. People can say, Yes, I can do this to themselves. But we tend to be more accountable, or more apt to fulfill our accountability goals, when we have to come in front of our coach and a group and say, Yeah, I didn’t get it done. So.

Karen Yankovich 26:25
And it’s so funny, because it’s not like we need babysitters. But that accountability makes a big difference. It just does. It just does. Yeah, that’s awesome.

Amy Collette 26:35
It does. And ultimately, we’re only accountable to ourselves. But it helps so much to be able to have, you know, to be able to talk it out and talk through those goals and celebrate. Yeah, when you meet when you meet them. Yeah,

Karen Yankovich 26:51
awesome. Amy, this is so good. I can’t wait to dig in. I’m going to check all your I’ve got some of your stuff checked out already. But I need to dig in deeper. And I know that there’s somebody listening, that is not gonna get their book out. So I’m excited about that. And maybe more than one person, maybe a bunch of us will get our books out here. What do you guys think you’re in for, like little accountability around this. Thank you so much for being here. Amy, we’ll put links in the below on how you can find out more about Amy. And you know, the reason I wanted to have Amy here and the why why I have guests like me on the show is because my goal is for there just be more wealthy women in the world, right. And I know more women with more money. And anyone you talked about, like in your bio, how you’re changing the vibe of the planet, it makes a difference. And I want more women to have more money or money gives us more choice. And more choices allow us to change the world. I mean, it allows us to change the world. So so for sure, check out all the links that we’re going to share with this episode on everything that we shared about Amy. And if you want to know what it looks like to get some help with the LinkedIn and PR piece of this, you guys know how to do that. Right? There’s links below but also the best place to start. Like, I believe that my community starts here with you listening to the show, even though I don’t necessarily know who that is, right? I think that’s where the community starts, we’ve got a Facebook group that we’ve got linked in the show notes that you’re welcome to join. The next step for you is to book a call, we have a spot on our calendar. But at Karen yankovich.com/call. If we both think that it’s a fit, to have a conversation about what it looks like to get some help, I’ll tell you what that looks like. But mostly, we’re gonna have a conversation around just supporting you and what your next steps might look like. And again, if it’s something that we think we can help you with, we’ll tell you what that looks like. But either way, these calls are really valuable for you. So grab a spot on the calendar, Karen yankovich.com/call. And if you loved what you heard today, make sure that you share this episode on social media tag me tag, Amy, we will share it with our audiences. And that’s how we all get more visibility, right, you’ll get in front of my audience and Amy’s audience, if you tag us in your posts about the show. That’s how we start to build those relationships that are so powerful and so profitable in our in our businesses. And, you know, I’m not gonna say no, if you feel like if you love this, and you want to leave us a review, on Apple podcasts, make sure that you’re following the show everywhere that you listen. And there’s a link for SpeakPipe in the show notes. I love getting SpeakPipe messages because I can reply to those. I reply to every one of those personally. So tell me what you thought about this episode. Tell me maybe there’s another guest you think I should be interviewing, tell me what your book is all about. I want to know SpeakPipe is a great way to do that. And you can either go to Karen yankovich.com/speakpipe Or just go to the links in the show notes for this and you know, we’re here to support you right that rising tide that lifts all boats. So help us help you by sharing the show. Amy, thanks again so much for being here this week. And I’ll be be back here next week with another episode thanks for being here thanks Karen