On May 28, I attended Rick Frishman’s Author 101 University in New York. I highly encourage you to attend this fantastic event next time it rolls around. Rick is hosting 3 this year.
Meanwhile, I’ll post highlights from my notes to jumpstart your thinking.
Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series and host of Mega Book Marketing University, shared the following:
Writing helps you know you.
Oprah says 2 things made her successful:
1. journaling every day
2. reading 2 books a week
Being an author gives you:
1. instant credibility (opens doors)
2. fortune (defined any way you want)
3. fame
Writing is crystallized thinking.
marketing x exposure (PR) = sales
greatest risk = greatest opportunity
Buckminster Fuller: real wealth = ideas x energy – RW = I x E
3 skills of infopreneur:
1. find addicts / hungry fish (find an itch no one else is scratching)
2. tap into a universal want or need
3. create lifetime customers
Keys to your WOW (World of Wealth) factor:
1. goosebumps
2. happy tears
3. weak in the knees
4. change in perception
5. instantaneous behavioral change (for nonfiction)
Dream team – co-author with someone who does the stuff you can’t do.
Have goals that thrill and scare you.
Set your goals as if you have unlimited time, money, and contacts.
My biggest takeaways:
“Writing is crystallized thinking.” It’s easy to think in a vague, amorphous way. Putting our thoughts into writing forces us to be clear and specific–to choose one word rather than another, to put one sentence before another. Thinking without writing and writing without thinking are both incomplete.
“Have goals that thrill and scare you.” Getting out of my comfort zone is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur, and I’ve worked to teach this to my four sons. I’m on the brink of some thrilling but scary major new projects, so this was a timely reminder.
Which of these nuggets from Mark resonates most for you?
“Have goals that thrill and scare you” is essential advice for a freelancer.
There’s also an incredible amount of truth in the idea that you can write your way to clarity on almost anything. The concept reminds me of the adage, “Oh for the faith of a spider; he begins his web with invisible thread.” You can’t afford to be afraid to step out into your future!
I can’t believe I missed BEA, but am already looking forward to the next one. Thanks so much for posting these highlights!
Janice Campbell
National Association of Independent Writers and Editors
The ‘crystallized thinking’ nugget resonates the most with me.
It is interesting that I struggle with writing because I think I think too much. I figure I must be doing something wrong if I have to labor over what I write. I am constantly spell-checking, wondering if I have been clear enough,or evaluating if I have covered all the bases.
Maybe it not as bad thing after all. I am assuming it gets easier the more you do it?
well, I need to up my journal writing. I have been reading about two books per day. Maybe one day I can be as successful as Oprah.