Why I Quit My Writing Company
When I started my first company, after being in the music business for twenty years, I built it around what I knew how to do, what I was good at, and what I thought I would enjoy doing and that was writing.
That company, called Pen & Punctuation, specialized in brochures, business names, tag lines, press releases and articles, and eventually website copy as well.
It was okay. It put money in the bank. But, it was stressful. Would the client like my copy? Would it convert for them? Could it have been better? I think most, if not all, writers who write for a living have doubts at one time or another.
And the truth is, I was getting bored, and I was growing disillusioned because when you write copy for other people, you trade time for money, so there is a ceiling on how much money you can make and there are only so many billable hours in a month.
I could see that long-term it was not a good business model. And I knew that without passion, it would be unsustainable as a business for me. So, I started looking around to see what else I could do. I knew I wanted to write books, so I went exploring on the Internet and in the process became intrigued with Internet marketing and what the experts were selling: Make money while you sleep!
Set it and forget it!
It almost seemed too good to be true. But, it was a nice idea, so I decided to look into it further. I got on a lot of free webinars and starting figuring out who the real experts were (you know, the ones who were actually making money). I went to conferences, started building relationships, and I kept learning. And the one thing the experts all seemed to agree on was that the money was not in selling books, but in the opportunities that came from writing books (which I later learned wasn’t entirely true).
But, no way was I going to give up on my dream of writing books; it was too important to me, but I also took to heart what they were saying. I had no idea what my topic would be, but I was willing to pursue it. And once I discovered ebooks, I knew that was what I wanted to write. I loved that you could publish without spending a lot of money to get started and I felt that digital was the future anyway. I was excited! But, as luck would have it, (although it didn’t feel very lucky at the time) I ran into challenges writing my first book, so I went looking for an ebook coach, but there weren’t any and that is how I became the very first one.
I worked with small groups in my 3 Days to eBook Cash Authoring workshop and my first marketing program eBook Profit Secrets, but it was only with the advent of Amazon that I was able to become a multiple #1 bestselling author, reach a huge audience, and grow my business to the next level.
And that is the benefit that every coach, consultant, speaker, and expert can get by writing a book as well as the opportunities that arise when you become an author which I’ll talk more about in my next post.