Creatively Speaking | Weller Smith Design

In this interview, Susie and I touch on:

• Starting before you are ready
• Thinking outside the box, literally…
• Creating something based on your past experiences
• Not being afraid to co-create with others
• Looking for creative ways to share your product to reach more people
• Using an online retailer such as Amazon to help build your business
• And more….

These decks are the perfect gift for birthdays, holidays, Valentine’s Day, Breast Cancer Awareness month, and more!

Leora Edut, founder and Creatrix of Goddess on the Go, and I talk about her journey into self-publishing with the launch of her beautifully curated collaborative book. At the time of her first writing it, the traditional publishing industry was not ready for a selection like hers. However, in the age of the #metoo movement, this has become a timely, and much needed collection and is the perfect extension to her brand!

Leora shares her story of how building a sisterhood of women with in-person events and retreats inspired her to start writing. This book was intended to be a catalyst for women all over the world to bring the Goddess on the Go experience into their communities, homes, and individual lives. This is an amazing collaboration with Leora and her collective tribe of healing Goddesses that provides women with tools and rituals to get in touch with their femininity, love, health, leadership, wealth, and more.

We talk about her 5+ year journey to get this book into production and the team that helped her get through it all. Divine timing encompassed every aspect of this project and she reveals how she was able to focus, even after many setbacks (and Mercury Retrogrades!), what inspired her, how writing this book has changed her, and what she hopes this book will bring to women across the globe.

Since the launch, her community has surrounded her with love and gratitude and they have gathered to celebrate her and the launch of this book. She has traveled near, and far, with readings in California, New York, and New Jersey among other locations. She also had an in-person reading and signing in Barnes & Noble…a dream come true! She also has upcoming events in Seattle, Atlanta, and Texas in the New Year (2019).

To end 2018, she is organizing a curated Wellness Experience in Art Basil December at The Shore Club Dec 6-9th. So far on the list Tantra, Henna, Astrology Readings, Essential Oils, Cacao, Sound Healing, Spiritual Leadership, and Sexual Libheration. If you are in the area – Definitely get on the list, you will not be disappointed!

Beth Nydick, owner of Blue Barn Kitchen, and her Co-Author Tara Roscioli, published their cocktail book, Clean Cocktails: Righteous Recipes for the Modernist Mixologist in 2017 and the momentum from this timely piece is still going strong!

In this interview, Beth and I sit down to talk about the journey from how she met Tara, all the way through to present-day promotional activities for the book. Her story is so inspiring as she shares all of the nuances of navigating a traditionally published book. From the acquiring agent to the editors, photographer, and more, she and I talk about it ALL!

The ingenuity and drive that she and Tara had throughout the process are what kept everything moving, but Beth does not sugar coat this…she is very real and honest about how much time, energy, and trial and error went into making this project work!

Have you been dreaming of creating  “something” for your audience, but cannot seem to find the words to fully describe what “that” is? Are you stalling with getting your product into the world because you do not know where to start when trying to find someone to help you formulate it, design it, create it, and produce it?

In this interview with Mariah McCullough, Owner and Creator of Because I Decided, we talk about exactly JUST that! Mariah’s inspirational weight loss journey inspired others to start following her on social media. When she realized they were interested in learning from, her she started to create content specifically for them based on her own success path. Once she decided to go bigger by implementing an online program…she knew she needed some sort of supplemental information to go along with it…but she wasn’t exactly sure what those should be, or what they could look like.

*SPOILER ALERT* during this interview, Mariah actually shows us her original POST-IT notes that we started the design from….along with the final product that proves you do NOT have to have your final product in mind when approaching a Design Team to help you formulate your ideas.

If you have that idea, and are not sure how to implement it, or if you are curious about different self-published products that would be a good fit for your business, then you do not want to miss this episode.

Mariah  touches on the following in her interview:

• How documenting her own journey helped her to create something to help others
• How she was able to give her tribe what they “asked for”, but then also create something that they actually “needed” to be successful
• How she moved forward with her ideas, even if she did not always have the right words to describe what she wanted
• How finding the right person to collaborate with can open up new ideas and solutions
• How this initial product can pave the way for future business tools

Mariah and her “Because I Decided” brand, continues to inspire followers with her amazing personal transformation. She talks about more than just what she is eating or lifting…she also talks about real challenges, the next level blocks that come once you have lost the weight,  and other things that come up once your physical transformation has started. With her guidance, support, and proprietary tools, you too will be able to forge your own personal journey, and document it as well.

Are you curious about the possibilities of going from Blogger to Published Author? Or are you interested in learning about what exactly goes into the process of publishing your cookbook? In this jam-packed interview with Tessa Arias, Chef, Author, and Creator of HandleTheHeat.com, she and I talk about all of that and more.

Tessa shares her story of how an agent reached out to her when she was growing her blog and community…and how that relationship helped her go from Blogger to Published Author. Now do not get me wrong – this was not an overnight accomplishment, and, while Tessa’s specialty is all things “sweet”, she does NOT sugar coat the process!

If you are in the process of writing your cookbook, or any book, and are weighing your options between finding an agent or self-publishing, you will not want to miss this episode.

Tessa touches on the following in her interview:

• The benefits and the drawbacks of traditional publishing
• What she learned about marketing, publicity, and the sales process
• How she took what she learned to create her own ebooks, products and more
• The benefits of co-creating products with your audience
• Embracing the creative process when publishing on your own

Tessa has grown her brand from a hobby blogging platform to a cohesive lifestyle brand and is fully committed to providing her audience with high-quality content and products. She has self-published e-books and e-cookbooks and is always looking for ways to better serve her audience. She recently launched an improved version of her Monthly Baking Challenge and continues to grow and evolve her brand.

Her story is inspiring to listen to as she takes us through the different phases of her business and how each opportunity helped her to gain more exposure and status as well as how she took her lessons and expanded on them in her own way.

Do you have a course and are looking for a new way to leverage the work you put into it? Have you ever thought about turning that into a print product?

If so, you will love this conversation that I had with Lyn Lindbergh, the self-proclaimed, Bad Couch Guru! Lyn took her own experiences with trying to get healthy and fit, and created a simplified plan to help people finally get off the couch and start moving so they could finally live a life they love! I had such an amazing time working with Lyn and her team and am happy to share this with you.

In this interview, we talk about why she decided it was time to turn her successful online course into a tactile product and how she went about getting it done! In all fairness, creating a book was nothing new to Lyn. In the past, she had produced her first DIY self-published product…using CANVA(!) She took what she learned from those DIY days and made a conscious decision to try a different route for her, soon-to-be, signature product. In order to do this, she enlisted a team to help her create a high-end product that is well-written, well designed, and professionally produced…still within the print-on-demand method, but using higher-level service providers.

She talks through her full process from online challenge, to course, and then on to her recently published, Couch to Active: The Missing Link that Takes You from Sedentary to Active

She talks about:

• Her vision for this product
• How she enriched the content with personal stories and customer results
• How she found and enlisted a Copy Editor, Proofreader, and Design Team to work with
• The challenges along the way
• And the surprising conversations AFTER the book was published

She does not sugar coat this though – it was a LOT of work, and even she was surprised by everything that went into it. Now, she has her hardcover available through IngramSpark (link below) and her paperback through Amazon’s KDP (link below), this gives her the best of both worlds in terms of distribution and accessibility.

This was definitely a fun interview, and so fitting that the day we had our call was on the actual “Book Birthday!”

If you would like to learn more about Self-Publishing, click the link below to sign up for our upcoming Facebook Live Series, Star Author Status!

Are you ready to achieve Expert Status? Listen in as I talk with Nour Zibdeh, a Registered Dietitian and Functional Nutritionist on the process she went through to create her first self-published cookbook and she confirms that her books have helped to push her into Expert status, and so could yours!

In this interview, we talk about the challenges she faced with editing, design, and promotion. She also provides great insight into how she made her way through the process and how we came to work together to finish and self-publish her first cookbook, The Detox Way. (Self-published through IngramSpark, link is below.)

That cookbook ended up being the stepping stone to opportunities that she did not even imagine could be within reach!

Her reflections include:

• If you have the resources, fInd a team to help you (there are always options at different price points, so never count yourself out on this)
• Pick a specific topic to talk about and make it unique to you (think: picking a specific item or style of cooking for a cookbook, etc)
• Set time aside to plan (find ways to batch your process, this includes cooking, photos, content, etc.)
• Enlist family and friends to taste test, review and, of course, share!

We talk about how we came to work together to create her first cookbook, The Detox Way, that was self-published through IngramSpark (links are below)

We also talk about how her second book, The Complete Acid Reflux Diet Plan (link below) came to be as well!

Her journey is inspiring and shows that opportunities lie just outside of your comfort zone. She went from nervous to share her content, to a confident expert who has now been featured on Buzzfeed, ABC News, Fitness Magazine, The Washingtonian, MedHelp, NPR, and more.