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What I learned about myself from my first ebook

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Hello again; This week I’m here to share something very exciting and to ask for your help. Some of you may have heard that I have been working on my first ebook. It will be a short motivational one that I plan to expand upon later. On Friday I sent it to my editor the very talented Lorraine Reguly of Wording Well. She told me that she should have it ready to publish in about two weeks. However, this isn’t the end. I still need to choose a book cover image, set a price, and decide upon whether or not to offer it free to subscribers. And this is where I will need your help.

Some background

I always like to start with a little background, so first I’ll tell you how this all came about. A while back I left a comment on a post at Eve Koivula’s site. The post was about creating online products, and I had asked for suggestions on creating your first one. She was good enough to write back and offer to work with me. She even sent me a copy of her recently released ebook hoping it would help me focus on my target audience and their needs.

Later, she asked me if I wanted to participate in an online summit. She said that if I did I would need to have a product ready in time to offer it to the viewers. She also informed me that I would need to have an email auto responder by then. This is why I signed up with aweber. At first I thought about saying no because the deadline was coming up very fast by then. But Eve explained that it didn’t have to be a huge deal especially for my first effort.

So, I decided to go for it hoping I could meet the deadline. I started writing the book and had about half of it done when she informed me that they had decided to make it an all female event. I didn’t have a problem with this as I understand the value of inviting people who can put buts in front of the screens. But you know me I believe in finding the good in anything. I decided that it was way past time for me to create an online product of my own. So, I kept working on it.

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Do you have a gratitude page?

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Hello again; People often ask how I manage to stay so positive and optimistic. They say no one can find the good in everything. They say you must have down days, and they would be right.

Well, maybe I don’t have down days; but I have had down minutes or hours. So, I thought today I would share something I have done to help remind me of how good I am doing.

What is a gratitude page?

In the post title I asked you if you had a gratitude page on your blog or website. In order for you to answer the question I first need to explain what this is. We all have had some success in our business or professional lives. However, we don’t always think about these good days when we are in the middle of a stressful situation. Just one bad event can have you feeling like a failure and questioning whether or not you should even be doing whatever it is you are doing.

So, what if you had a way to remind yourself of just how well you are doing and just how far you have come? This is where the gratitude page comes in. With abundance or gratitude the more you focus on it the more of it you will have in your life. The gratitude page is a way of reminding yourself of your past achievements.

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Good health makes me a better blogger part 2

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Hello again; I am happy to have heard from so many people who are either in good health or who have promised to take steps to make sure after reading last week’s post. I do believe that good health is critical to your long term success at anything. So, I wanted to follow up by addressing other aspects of good health.

Vision

It is pretty well known that I am almost totally blind. I have a genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa. I have only light perception at this point. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to worry about eye health.

In fact I was surprised to find out that having your eyes checked is another way that your doctor’s can recognize disease early. In my case my last eye exam turned up large cataracts on both eyes. I was thinking big deal I can’t see anyway.

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Good health makes me a better blogger part 1

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Hello again; Its no secret that I believe my personal transformation started by getting in better physical health. First, I was convinced to have a sleep study. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and fitted with a CPAP machine. Later, I was persuaded to consider having gastric surgery. I listened to the information and decided to go ahead with it after finding out that it wasn’t the answer just a tool to help with long term weight loss. I had a successful procedure. Following that up with eating healthier and daily exercise I am now at my ideal weight of 255 pounds for a 6 ft. 4 man with a solid build. As I have gotten healthier I have come to have more energy, creativity, and passion. So, I want to share some of my recent experiences in hopes of encouraging you to also make your health a priority.

Some questions

Let’s start with a few questions. When was the last time you saw a doctor? Was it in his or her office, or was it at an emergency room? Did you go to have a regular check up or where you there for some sort of condition?

Do you have a regular primary care physician? Do you know them by name? When was the last time you visited them? And when you go do you have a conversation or just listen to their advice and get out of there?

I know going to the doctor is not much fun. I hear it is even less fun for women. And for those who get told this often, going there only to hear you need to quit smoking, drink less, or lose weight isn’t fun either. I used to be that guy. I would go to my doctor every six months but only because I had prescriptions that needed to be approved by a physician before they could be refilled. I would promise to try harder, and she would tell me I better. 🙂

Talking to my doctor

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Knowing your worth and setting prices

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Hello again; Today I want to talk about an important subject. I want to discuss the age old fear of are you good enough. This subject came to me as i was wrestling with another problem common to all bloggers and that is what to charge. I hope hearing my thoughts will help you with your own inner discussion.

 

When I first started blogging with the new website, I wasn’t sure people would want to read my posts much less hire me for coaching or speaking. I set the blog up on a free platform so i wouldn’t have to invest the time and money of choosing and filing for a domain name as well as creating a new site. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only do people like my posts but quite a few of my readers say they depend upon them and look forward to them. So, I moved over to word press and continue to be impressed by the response of my readers. But that brings me to the subject of coaching and what to charge for it.

 

I don’t have any formal training as a coach or mentor. I plan to draw on my own experiences to motivate and inspire clients. For this reason I decided not to charge for the service. I figured I can do it for free for a while and find out if I like it and if I am any good at it. I put it out there that I was available. I especially promoted it among the blind and visually impaired community. So far, I have had only one response, and he did not return for a second session.

 

Investing in yourself

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