Self-Promoting a Self-Published Book

I published the the Pricing Workbook for Creatives in May of this year.  It's currently October.  I've already shared everything I did and didn't do as I prepared to launch the book.  Now that it's 5 months after publication, where am I with regard to getting this book out into the hands of people who it will help?

Books Sold in the First Five Months: 50

I wish I was further along.  It's a good thing I have zero ego and expectation around how many books I've sold so that I can just share this openly and honestly.  I'm not comparing against anyone else, just looking at where I am compared to where I want to be.  I didn't find anyone else who shared their self-published early sales numbers or details of their early efforts, so I'm sharing mine as a slice of reality pie.

I'd say 90% of these book purchases are people I know personally, or people who have known me through social media for a few years.  50% of these were sold in the first month, largely due to my launch efforts.  I'm grateful for each person who has taken this work seriously and is digging into doing the work.  I know this workbook helps people build and run better creative businesses.  The formulas work, but only when people do them, and making time to do the work is often the hardest part.  The same is true for doing the work of promoting the book.

The books I've given away for review or as gifts are less likely to be put to good use than the books that people have bought for themselves.  That's just reality and the fact that people tend to value the things they pay for more than the things they are given.  I would love to host more workshops where I can help facilitate the process in a space dedicated to doing the work, but how and where that can happen still represents a series of unknowns.

I know I can help someone get through the first worksheet in an hour or two even if they have never looked at those numbers before.  The second worksheet is dependent on the industry and recognizing what goes into someone's creative work, so the time is more organizational/thinking time for the creative.  The third worksheet often requires some research time if someone hasn't run a business before, but can usually be accomplished in a few hours.  In my dream scenario, I would love to gather people for a week-long retreat, where they spend a couple hours doing the work together each day, and then the rest of the day focusing on creative experiments and talking to each other about the challenges and solutions that come up as they do the work.

I'm basically hand-selling every individual copy of the book right now.

When I look at where things are, I also see that I haven't invested a ton of energy in book promotion.  I've been traveling a lot.  I've been experiencing places, people, and learning new things, but I haven't been investing time in the efforts needed to get this book out to people who can benefit the most from the work.  I knew it would require a lot of individual effort in the beginning, much like many creative endeavors have required.  However, I also thought Amazon listing would be able to help just a little more than they really do. Granted, I also have not invested anything into advertising at this point, which is still an option that I will likely run a test on in the future.  I also know that we're approaching the busiest season of the year for nearly all creatives, and that there will be more time for creatives to look at their business when winter rolls around and they can work on business goals rather than just focusing on business tasks.

Received First Five Star and First One Star Review

Thankfully the first review was the five star review from someone who beta-tested the book and I respect highly as an artist and an educator.  That review was amazing to read because it outlined exactly what many of my consulting clients experienced as well when they went through the process.  I'm so glad that was the first review I got to read because it really highlighted what's possible for people who do the work.

When the second review appeared as a one star review, I was able to take it in gracefully.  I don't know if it's the amount of self-development work I've done, but it actually didn't bother me to get a 1 star review.  It bothered me that the person may have reviewed the book without actually working through the worksheets, but their review actually confirmed some of what I think makes the workbook helpful and valuable...
"It's 7th grade level math."
Yes- it was designed to be so easy that young entrepreneurs could make use of it with basic math!
 "It's more like a workbook.. there's nothing in it.."
Yes- the value is in the process of filling out the worksheets and formulas with personalized info!
So, I responded to this review with validations that yes, this is all part of the design of the book.  The reviewer also complained about price, so I also provided the reviewer with a link to the 10 years and hundreds of FREE pricing and business articles I've shared publicly on PhotoLovecat, and encouraged them to gift the book to a young and budding entrepreneur who will make use of it.

When I look at the price of this book, I see all the other ways that this information can be earned or gained.  It is way less expensive than the $350,000 or more of trial and error you might spend to figure it out in your own business.  It's a lot less than a college business course that might cost $3,500.  It's still cheaper than a short consulting session that might be $350.  Yet, all that value and experience that I have invested is packed into a $35 book.  What's expensive is not the book, but all of the experience that went into making a creative business building process into a book easy enough for a 7th grader to figure out.  I get it though, unless you actually go through the process, it just looks like some simple forms.  Filling the forms out is where everyone confronts the challenges.

Into every creator's life, there are bound to be negative reviews of our work.  It comes with the territory of putting ourselves and our work out into the world.  I'm so much better about taking in negative feedback now than when I started my creative journey professionally.  Oh man, in the beginning, negative feedback was devastation.  Now I'm able to read it, decipher if there are any gems of wisdom that I can really learn from, or if it's just a bunch of negativity directed at a review box.  I'm much less emotionally charged and much more neutral about other people's opinions than I used to be regarding my creative work.  I think I have confidence about this book regardless of reviews because of how much trial and error I was able to put into the work before I put it into book format.  I know it works, but it still requires people to put in their own work to get there, which is emphasized at the beginning of the book.

The Mistake I Made with Early-Bird Sales

Getting a negative review also highlighted one of the mistakes I made with early-bird sales.  I didn't encourage people to pre-order the book on Amazon because I couldn't offer a special price to some people but not others.  I probably could have offered a discounted price for the first week and then raised the price on Amazon, but there were so many things to figure out for the first time in that period that I didn't fully understand how that might impact me later and I didn't have time to do more research about the consequences.

The downside of having people get the book directly through me at an early-bird discount rather than ordering on Amazon was that my early supporters did not get their book purchases listed as verified purchases on Amazon.  (Another downside may also be all the individual hand-labor that went into shipping the book directly, but I loved being able to write personal thank you notes to each person.)  With only two reviews of the book - one being from a book beta-tester who didn't show up as a verified purchase because they had access to the book before it was released and one from a verified purchase - I noticed that Amazon gave greater weight to the verified purchase review.  In the star category, it listed the verified purchase 1 star review at 51% and the 5 star review from the beta-tester at 49%.  So there is a mathematical weight given to verified reviews in how stars appear on the site and which reviews show up at the top of the review section, regardless of how "Helpful" someone's review has been voted.

Asking for Reviews

Once I saw how Amazon was giving weight to this 1 star review, I realized I needed to circle back with a few more people who I knew had worked through the book to ask if they can provide a review to help others who are considering the workbook.  Now, this is one benefit to beta-testing the book and hand-selling that first batch of books- because I actually KNOW who received copies of the book because I placed those orders personally.  Even if Amazon doesn't give those book owners and book reviews greater weight, they can still share their thoughts and what they gained from the book for other readers to consider.

So, if you're able to collect emails of people who are placing pre-orders, than you can have the best of both worlds when it comes to verified reviews and being able to follow-up with people.  At this point, there are 3 reviews out of 50 books sold, and two of those people beta-tested the book before it was released, so they don't show up as verified reviews, unfortunately.  I have a few more ideas about how to work on this, but I'm also open to more ideas.

Finding Promotional Opportunities

Many of the promotional opportunities I've had so far to share the book have come from me reaching out directly to people who are cultivating an audience that I think will benefit from the book.  There have been a couple invitations that came to me before I reached out to them, but they were usually connected to me reaching out to someone else to help them out by sharing the work I've done.  Obviously, if you aren't up for self-promotion, it could be even more challenging to get your work into the right hands.

One of the speed bumps I've run into is living on the opposite side of the world, away from most of the market where the book can be easily purchased and distributed.  I can submit blog posts, or books for review, but things like lining up times for calls or interviews for videos or podcasts presents some challenges when meetings need to happen at the fringes of the day in those couple hours where people 12 time zones apart are both awake.  I could target the Australian and Asian market, which are closer in time zones, but there are other distribution challenges that need to be resolved before that makes sense.

Then there are the internet connectivity issues that come with being in China.  This week has been loaded with them due to the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China, aka National Day, aka Golden Week.  VPN Access to social media sites and Google have either been blocked or very slow to load, such that working online has been frustrating at best and hasn't yielded much productivity.  To maintain my sanity rather than banging my head against a wall, I decided to give up doing too much research or communication until after the holiday is over.  This was supposed to be the perfect week to focus while I'm in Shanghai alone, but it has actually yielded the least productivity in the areas I was hoping to make progress due to internet issues.  These are the realities of attempting to be productive while traveling.

Website?

The website that I'd hoped was going to be ready by now, is not finished.  If I were to do this over again and link a website to a book, I think I would choose to just utilize a basic template that requires no design decisions or custom branding  in order to have a fast website.  Instead I chose to hire a custom designer for a larger overhaul of a site that will serve multiple purposes, and I knew the process would take long, but it has taken even longer than I'd hoped due to the communication challenges of needing to work asynchronously online on opposite time zones.

Without a website, there are certain larger publicity outlets that I hesitate to reach out to because I know they want to see some evidence of my "street cred" beyond my LinkedIn experiences, Instagram adventures, and Facebook pages.  This is where being in limbo with a custom site I'm not in full control of starts to feel like just one more challenge to overcome rather than one more support system to draw upon.

Picking Myself Up When I Feel Defeated

I have a few friends who are rooting for me and for the success of the book, and for them I am so grateful.  They breathe wind into my sails when I just want to drown in the weight of what needs to be done.  It is so easy to feel defeated and want to give up.  Atrophy is so much easier than climbing the uphill battles.  Most days I'm the one who has to push my own frustrated self, kicking and screaming internally in protest, up the figurative hill.  I know that I just have to keep moving forward, in spite of all the obstacles.

Part of me wants to say screw it all and focus on something easier and more fun... which is admittedly what I get to do while while traveling... but I also know that's not going to help as many people as continuing to work through the challenges of getting this work to people who will benefit from it.  I think this also speaks to why you must be passionate about the work you create- because the challenges are only worth overcoming when you love what you do or you deeply believe your work will create a positive impact in the world.

Small Wins

I'm good at taking stock of my mistakes and losses, it's how I acknowledge what needs to be better.  However, I also think it's important to celebrate any wins that help move things in the right direction, no matter how small.  So, here are the promotional invitations that have panned out and been shared since I published the book.  Both were recorded while I was on a great internet connection in NYC.  I actually had more interviews scheduled, but a couple people cancelled, and one that was recorded has not been released yet:
How to be an Artist Creator Profile
Tiffinbox YouTube Interview of Pricing Workbook for Creatives
This one was also recorded and shared with a limited audience before the book was released:
Pricing Strategies for Creatives with Libby Co.


Want to Read More of my Self-Publishing Journey?

• Timeline to Write & Self-Publish
• Book Launch Plans & Realities
• A Hacked Launch is Greater than No Launch
• Big Scary Goals for the Pricing Workbook for Creatives
• Self-Published Book Editing Process
• Self-Publishing & Eco Friendly Printing
• Why a Pricing Workbook for Creatives

BIG SCARY GOALS - Pricing Workbook for Creatives

I have quite a few BIG SCARY GOALS for the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  However, I also know that in order for them to come to life, I will need quite a bit of help along the way.  Some of these feel impossible to me right now with the average projections I've seen of other similar projects, but that's never stopped me from setting big goals and attempting to go after them.  Trying for something big and learning along the way is better than not trying at all- this is just the story of my life.  This blog post is my way of writing these goals into the universe so that (just in case I die tomorrow) the book can continue its journey no matter what happens to me and my personal journey.



BIG SCARY GOAL: TRANSLATE INTO 10 LANGUAGES BY 2029
How amazing would it be if everyone could feel fully supported for the work they create and sell?  How much would it change the world if no one felt like they were undervalued in their efforts?  I believe the Pricing Workbook for Creatives can establish a sense of self-worth and creative-value that has often been squashed by industrialized societies and corporate colonial structures that haven't created many pathways for independent creatives.  It makes sense to focus on translating into the top languages currently being spoken in the world... Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindu, Arabic, Portuguese, Malay, Russian, Bengali, French, Hausa... however, if the workbook makes it into 10 languages of any kind, it will still be meeting its goal.

BIG SCARY GOAL: ESTABLISH LOCAL WORKSHOP LEADERS
Rather than trying to be a singular point person for everyone interested in this work, I'd rather support local leaders who can provide local help, localized community, and local resources.  These people will also need to build their own set of locally trusted referrals for CPAs, independent financial advisors, and lawyers to offer additional professional resources to people who need business and financial help that goes beyond the basics.  The workbook is already laid out easily for a curriculum format, but pacing can be tricky depending on how much time people have to work on it, and a lot of people may need extra hand-holding in order to make it happen.  I can't hold everyone's hand, but I can develop resources to help people find a local person who can help hold their hand.

BIG SCARY GOAL: BUILD A CREATIVE BUSINESS INCUBATOR
Creative work makes the world a more interesting, beautiful, and joyful place to live.  Creative businesses and independent creatives have unique needs and are often driven by motivations other than profit, which is why they need a supportive place that doesn't try to force them to seek investors who may be looking to capitalize on their work and then divest from it (if a creative wants to go that route- there are already plenty of options).  Likewise, many incredibly creative people never make it past the starting line because they don't come from a hefty savings account or a good supportive network for creatives and don't have the ability to get a loan to launch their creative projects.  I would like to figure out how we can best support creative businesses in their unique needs by creating a supportive program for the early years, without obligating creatives to turn over their profits later on. This is going to be a big challenge- but I have to believe it's possible to figure it out.

STARTING RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW
I have even more goals, but I find that it's better to focus more narrowly on three big scary goals, and see what happens along the path of pursuing those goals in order to determine what else may need to be done.  The path to making all of those goals happen is still wide open and and unpredictable, and I have no expectations of how it will unfold, only that these are my intentions behind creating the work and how I'd like to see it grow as it travels through the world and helps other creative businesses.  So, how am I starting right here, right now, with the resources I have in this moment?

FIRST YEAR GOAL:
For the first year of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives, I'll mainly be focusing on promotion and distribution while I'm traveling.  I need more people to meet the material where they are, with what they know, and see what kind of struggles or issues come up that can be clarified in writing.  After one year of other people using the workbook on their own and giving feedback, I should be able to revise the material as needed to make anything confusing even easier to understand in writing.  The first year will also help me create additional helpful content like more robust electronic spreadsheets, videos, software, or workbook samples that can help people out above and beyond examples that are already available in the workbook.

SECOND YEAR GOAL:
Should I end up in New York City when I get back from traveling the world (which is the plan as of today- but who knows what will happen), one of my goals is to develop a Creative Business Workshop Curriculum for Alternative Urban High School and Vocational programs.  I came from an inner-city upbringing and never would have attended High School myself if it weren't for the opportunity to be creative in Choir, Band, and Theatre.  All I cared about was performing and creating, but no one treated creative careers as options to make a living from or offered me a program that helped me turn my creativity into a business.  I started working to earn money as early as I could- and if someone had given me a roadmap that allowed me to start using my creative talents to make money at that age- I would have a huge head start on developing myself as a creative entrepreneur rather than spending more time in school systems that were training me to work for other people rather than helping me learn how to work for myself.  I had a lot of inner city friends who felt the same way I did and didn't fit into corporate structures or environments, but definitely had the inner creative drive to make their own business happen.  I'd like to make sure we are offering paths and openings for teens to create healthy lives by giving ways for them to understand how they can package their gifts and offer them to others.

Think you can help with any of these BIG SCARY GOALS for the Pricing Workbook for Creatives?!  Reach out and let me know how you'd like to be involved!!

A Hacked Launch is Greater Than No Launch

... unless you're a rocket scientist. However, when it comes to business, launching something new in a hacked, unorganized, messy, or imperfect way is still far better than not launching at all.   Indefinitely delaying a launch out of the desire for a fully formed and perfected presentation is a great way to never launch something.

Consider how much you learn and can earn from starting early and messy, no website, no pretty packaging, just trying different things, learning what resonates and what doesn't, building your resources as you go, discovering what people are and aren't willing to pay for just by offer to do work, honing and perfecting your presentation and process with each trial, gradually creating something that really works and is built on a foundation of real meaningful experiences.

Now consider what happens when trying to perfect everything first in the mind, without ever testing it in the real world with different people, without getting any feedback or response before sharing it with the world.  It's a lot of time invested on the perfection of a vision, but little to no time invested in understanding how others perceive that vision, what they are willing to pay for, or what questions they have and need answered to help them understand the value.  Understanding how other people value our work can only be understood by sharing that work with other people.  Understanding what and why people buy can only be understood by attempting to sell something.

Launching the Pricing Workbook for Creatives required me to launch messy and imperfectly.  What do I mean by messy?  At the moment, there seem to be two different versions of anneruthmann.com currently online depending on what device you use or how the domain connects based on any cookies you may have stored on your browser.  You might see my architecture & interior commercial photography portfolio hosted with photoshelter.com that looks like this:

Or you could see an about.me page that looks like this:

Neither of these are what I was hoping to have in place while launching the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  Even though I already hired a designer to craft a new website that will be a better showcase of my experience and the resources I can provide, I already knew that the new website would take more time and not be ready for the book launch.  Rather than delay the book launch for the perfection of a website, or put the pressure of having the website first, I decided to focus on finding another way to launch messy and prioritize capturing public interest in the workbook so I could build and share resources along the way.

Instead of having the domains PricingWorkbookforCreatives.com or PricingWorkbook.com point to a website page full of amazing copy and testimonials, I decided to point the domains to a simple MailChimp.com email capture landing page (shown below) so that I could capture the interest around sending special deals to the early readers who wanted in on deals and freebies:

I really held to the promise in this form and ONLY offered special deals to this email list.  Everyone else who was just watching on social media never got the deal I offered over email.  I knew it was highly likely that the people on this email list would still be watching me elsewhere online in social media, and I needed them to know how much I valued their early support, interest, and trust in me to deliver on my promise.  This made a tiny little email form far more valuable than a website would be, because it unlocked something no one else could get otherwise.  Any mention I made leading up to the launch on social media simply directed people to this form, rather than some long and rambling sales page, complicated website, webinar registration, free download, or anything else.  I wanted the process to be simple and straightforward, no complications.

In some ways, I find the interest of those early registrations to be far more meaningful and valuable than anything that comes from a more a perfected website or sales pitch.  The early registrations were all-in right away.  They didn't need to see more.  They knew what they wanted and were willing to get first dibs.  Regardless of their follow-through rate on sales, the emotional support to keep going when it was frustrating before launch came from just seeing those early registrations waiting in line.  Thanks to launching early and messy, the Pricing Workbook for Creatives got to have its moment of fame at the top of the New Release list for Kindle Books in the Business of Art category!

When building something important, I've realized the group belief in what you are offering is a key factor in getting to the finish line.  Group support for a product creates an encouraging fire to keep moving forward even when you might want to give up, much like being in a relay knowing an entire team needs you to be your best and reach your finish point.  It truly is special to know when people value what you're putting out into the world.  I don't think I would have learned how important that step really was if I had waited to launch with a more developed website or structure.

Having a hacked together launch can also help you mitigate risk.  If you anticipate a launch with a simple sign up page and get no sign ups at all no matter how much you promote something- it's a pretty good sign that something doesn't seem valuable enough to want!  Either that or you need to talk to more people and revise your offer until people do sign up for it.  Eliminating what people don't value and don't want helps prevent you from risking the time and energy to build something that won't be able to get off the ground when it's ready.

So if you're working on something new, or planning to launch something no one has ever seen yet... how about taking it for a test drive while it's still in concept form before going big?  Talking with people about what you're working on helps you refine what other people are most interested in and excited to see.  Whether you talk about it online or in person to build buzz and interest, try it while things are still messy and see what you can learn and revise to make it better for those who want it!

NYC Pricing Workshop for Creatives - Tuesday April 9, 2019

As I mentioned in my last post, I understand how difficult it is for some people to dedicate time and headspace to working on their pricing.  Yet, I also know how empowering it is when people finally do make that time and space to dig into their numbers and get clear on how everything needs to pan out.

This may be the only NYC in-person pricing workshop I can offer this year between my travels.  So, if you know someone who feels like they aren't making enough in their creative business, or is afraid to get started because pricing is overwhelming, this is the perfect workshop for them.  It's a full day workshop hosted in the middle of Manhattan.  There are only 12 spots in order to give each person the individual help and attention they may need.  I hope you'll pass the info along to someone who needs it!  If they can't make the workshop, you can always recommend they get the Pricing Workbook for Creatives to try on their own!

CLICK BELOW FOR MORE INFO:

The Pricing Workbook Editing Process

In my fantasy version of life, a book agent would have recognized my prolific ability to write at any point in over a decade of sharing deeply meaningful personal blogs here or concise business advice written over on PhotoLovecat.  I fantasize that an agent would have seen some kind of raw talent in my writing and suggested the perfect book that I could craft to meet market demands- but no, that was not my journey.

I have heard of those journeys and admit to being more than a little jealous of people who have had supportive ushers for their creativity along the way, while also reminding myself to keep that comparison mindset in check so that I don’t lose sight of what I am uniquely learning through my own journey.

What I have learned by not having a red carpet rolled out for me is how to carve my own path and press-on in spite of any obstacles that arrive.  I’ve learned how to gather my own resources and how to find great people who have been willing to help.  I’ve learned that life is too short for me to dwell on what I don’t have, when I could just use that time to move forward and make it happen on my own.

Part of what makes the journey worth it for me is sharing the process along the way.  So, here's an inside look at the process I've gone through to help refine the content and clarity of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives...

The first round of editor comments and suggestions came from people who actually went through the process of applying the workbook material to their life and business.  I wanted to know that people could successfully complete the workbook in DIY format, so I offered to let over 25 people access the material for free.  I wanted to make sure that it would be good enough to stand up on its own without any additional material or hand-holding so I could make sure it was possible to make relevant and meaningful to different creative lives and businesses.

Out of those 25, there were only 2 people motivated to get through the material on their own.  This didn’t surprise me, since most of the people in my network who offered to test the material are already business owners and have little to no need to actually go back into their numbers and start from the beginning again.  When the “need to know” factor is low, so is the motivation to actually go through the process.

The 2 people who dug into the work, Eve Klein - Textile Audio, and Stacey Natal - Life Happens Now, are both smart  multi-passionate creatives who intersect several different disciplines.  This was a great creative match and challenge to put the workbook through. They have been able to apply the process of the workbook to their own creative life and business with really no hand-holding or help from me, and they provided great feedback at just the right points in the book.  They asked all the right questions that I was hoping could be intuited and considered by the prompts in the material.  They also helped me understand that the material in the workbook was easy to understand and that the work itself wasn't holding anyone else back.  Everyone else wasn't being held back by a lack of clarity or understanding, just a lack of motivation.  This is actually an expected problem around self-motivated learning and why a lot of people go to workshops or classes to learn- many people just aren't motivated to do the work themselves.  So, I feel lucky that I had a couple self-motivated learners who were willing to test it out.

I could have stopped the editing process there and probably been just as happy, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist.  I also know that I have a tendency to assume things are easy to understand, so I wanted to enlist even more critical editor feedback to make sure everything appeared clear and easy to understand, as well as grammatically correct.

Finding a couple extra editors turned out to be easier than the recycled printer part of the process, and much more affordable than I expected I might need to encounter.  Thanks to the B-School Facebook Alumni community of people looking to trade services for each other, I was able to find an editor and writing teacher, Rachel Van Horne who could bring a fresh eye to the workbook to edit for clarity, and in trade, I could help her get clarity and focus on moving her own creative business forward.  It was a win-win and we were able to trade our time and guidance for each other before the deadline for publication.

Even though that probably would have been enough, I went even one step further and asked my mother, a professional editor for a publishing company in a former life, also go through and do all the nit-picking work that I knew only she could do and not hold back on.  She’s been so kind as my mother not to correct my daily instagram post errors, but I had a feeling that if asked, she would really put the workbook through the gauntlet.  Gratefully, she offered to do this for free, and she was just as brutal as I hoped she’d be.  In turn I only made her slightly upset by choosing not to use a few of her professional editing notes for personal style and format reasons.  (Thanks for forgiving me, mom!)  I also found it hilarious that she edited out her own name as a listed editor.  She says she doesn’t need to be recognized, but I secretly wonder if she doesn’t want to be held professionally responsible for the suggestions I didn’t take. ;-)  

This week I reviewed all of the combined edits and made the relevant updates to the material.  So now I can officially say that the written part of the workbook is done.  Any edits that I make from here will come after publishing the material and receiving questions and feedback from the first year of people working through the workbook on their own.  I feel confident at this point that the work is good enough to stand on its own so that if I died tomorrow I wouldn’t feel like I left anything out or that it was incomplete.  If I find that there are some common misunderstandings or confusion after the first year, I’ll revise the material to make sure it’s easier to understand and apply to various situations.

This week I also sponsored a short 90min workshop for a group of young NYC musicians to begin to apply this workbook to their creative life.  I did a lot of hand-holding and prompting around what average costs would be in NYC because many of them had never really taken control of understanding the financial situation they’d need to manage to work independently as a creative.  It reminded me of where I started- before I had any experience taking everything into my own hands and learning how to control it all.  I remembered how confusing and confronting it can be to look at everything that needs to be taken care of and getting overwhelmed.

Based on working through a lot of my own issues and working with other people on their issues around money, I know how emotional money can be.  One little word on a page that needs a number can completely shut someone down emotionally because it’s something that triggers a fear, an unsolved need, or brings up extra baggage and issues that haven’t been faced.  I get it.  I've been there and learned how to take back the fear and regain control.  The process in this book is a large part of how I did that.

Being in the room while the emotional money stories start to unfold is always insightful, and gives me a chance to do some empathetic hand-holding and encouragement that the future can be better than the past.  When we know better, we can do better.  Sometimes we all just need that little bit of extra support and dedicated space to face the issues we need to face in order to get on the other side of being in greater control of it all.

Because of this week’s in-person workshop experience, I definitely see the need to offer a few more workshops so that I can help people face those issues head on in a way that helps them have greater confidence in their ability to move forward and do the work.  Eventually this may lead to an online help group or a more robust series of coursework, but I’m also trying not to get too far ahead of getting the workbook published on deadline.  If you’re interested in a future workshop around the workbook- you can sign-up for workbook news and updates at http://pricingworkbookforcreatives.com.

The next steps from here are moving the workbook from its format from Google Docs to the Kindle & KDP Print-on-demand format.  I wish it was as easy as just exporting to PDF format, but there are some page numbers that need to be moved around and some extra pages added for the print version that don’t need to be in the e-book version, and a book cover that needs to be laid out.  It seems like this should be an easy thing, but I’m slightly terrified of screwing it all up, so I’ve hired a designer to help me make sure it doesn’t get messed up.

Self-Publishing & Eco-Friendly Printing

When I decided to self-publish the Pricing Workbook for Creatives instead of trying to go through traditional publishers, one of the things I also retained control over was how it would be printed, and who it would be printed by.  Of course, control also means added responsibility and workflow steps to make it all happen, but after so many years of running an entire creative business largely on my own,  I'm no stranger to managing a lot of things.

Luckily I didn't have any expectations of how long this process would take.  

I knew some things would just take time, and getting paper samples from a variety of printers has certainly taken a bit more time than I might have guessed.  In some cases, samples arrived in one week from contacting a printing house, in others, it was three weeks just for paper samples to arrive for testing as workbook paper to write and erase on.

I care about how it feels to actually do the work and write on the paper, and I want to make sure it's a good experience that feels good to keep working on, no matter how many times it needs to be erased.

There have also been about 50% dropped inquiries, where I've requested a quote and received half follow-up on a quote or total radio silence.  Obviously I'm going to give my business to the responsive printing companies that care about communication, rather than those that don't follow-thru.  I also learned that some paper samples looked really promising online, but once I had them in my hands, I realized they weren't going to work due to the actual texture and surface of the paper, which is exactly why I needed to make sure I received some samples and not just price quotes.  Apparently I'm super picky about paper!



(Paper sample from Rolling Press based in Brooklyn, NY.  Great for writing & erasing on!)

I would like to be conscious about my printing options by choosing recycled paper products and non-toxic soy-based earth friendly inks.  

Unfortunately, these options are still more expensive than traditional options with less recycled content and toxic inks.  Luckily, I think the material in the workbook is valuable enough to make it worth the cost of paying more to be earth conscious.  I would certainly sleep better at night knowing that people are writing out their future dreams for a passionate creative life on the recycled papers of old corporate reports full of wasteful ideas that require squashing people's dreams for corporate profits.  OK, that may be just a fantasy version of recycled paper use, but it still feels so much more satisfying than thinking about ripping a bunch of old trees out of Indonesia.


(Paper sample from Greener Printer based in Port Richmond, CA.  Better for magazine style photo printing with satin surfaces than for gritty workbook printing.)

The hardest part is the financial sustainability of printing on eco-conscious papers while also working with traditional publishing and distribution options.  

One printing quote I received from a shop in Los Angeles that had been recommended by a New York art book printer was so high that I literally think I lost my ability to breathe when I looked at the quote.  They were 3x more than any other quote- which meant they were 9x more than traditional book printing, and I wondered who they are actually working for at those rates?  Maybe they've cornered all the Oscar and Grammy printed program business?  I don't know... but I do know I can't choose a printer who will make the workbook unaffordable to access, just so it can be printed sustainably.

The best eco-friendly printers sent not just paper samples, but entire book samples of products that were similar in shape, size, and binding to the one I'm creating.  

Huge kudos to the book printing houses below for following up on my request for a quote and samples with not just paper samples, but full size workbook samples similar in size, paper type, and binding type to what I was requesting, based on other projects they've already printed in their shop.  I think they know that if we have a great relationship right out of the inquiry gate, I'm going to do all of my follow-up book printing with them- so it's smart move to go a little further up front.


(Book & Paper Sample from Bookmobile based in Minneapolis, MN.  Maximum 30% post-consumer waste paper options.)


(Book & Paper Sample from Thomson-Shore based in Dexter, MI.  Offers 100% post-consumer waste paper options as well as FSC certified mixed PCW options.)

The biggest financial sustainability challenge is combining the cost of eco-friendly printing with Amazon online distribution.

Once I finally got to a place of finding some good potential printing options and selected my ideal printer based on the printing samples, I started pricing out the costs for the printing and shipment, and how much it would leave remaining after Amazon takes their own cut of a book.

This is where Amazon starts to look like the big bad wolf blowing everyone's houses down.  Amazon is a double-edged sword.  On one hand, they cut through a lot of the hassle of working with traditional publishing houses and they give authors more control over updates and changes on their books as well as reaching international markets online.  On the other hand, Amazon is taking 65% of each e-book sale, and about the same percentage after all is said and done of each Print-on-Demand book as well.  Ouch.  This margin is still better than what a traditional publisher would take for a traditional book sale through hundreds of different retail stores, so to an Author, it might also appear to be a better deal than not self-publishing.

Cha-ching for Amazon!  Ouch for the Environment.  

There's also no option to request eco-friendly Print-on-Demand options.  If this was addressed, it could be a huge shift in publishing house practices to make the demand for eco-friendly papers, inks, and binding options more affordable if implemented at the enterprise level of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other print-on-demand providers.  What a massive social change that might create to also make it profitable to employ more people to do more waste-recycling efforts around the world.

If Amazon can't print eco-friendly, I thought, what if I skipped the traditional Print-on-Demand and sold the book as an Amazon FBA seller?  The Amazon cut would be less than the Print-on-Demand option, however, the added cost of using an eco-friendly printing option PLUS the Amazon commission and storage of a large print run of books actually makes it financially unsustainable to work with an eco-friendly option while distributing with Amazon.

FFFFFFFFFFFUCK.  
There goes the eco-friendly print plan for online distribution with Amazon.

If I were going to print a bunch of eco-friendly books, I'd have to find another way to sell them.  I'd have to find a way that didn't take such a large cut of the remaining profit margin after printing them with sustainable papers and inks.  Essentially, I'd only be able to sell environmentally friendly editions as part of workshops, conferences, classes, or learning experiences where I'd haul a bunch of them to provide in person.

I have no plans to become my own distribution center for one-off purchases of a book.  

This is how Amazon and Print-on-Demand options end up winning the online book game and the book profit game in the end, and how they force more books to be printed on papers that are not FSC Certified or post-consumer waste content, with inks that are not environmentally friendly.

Even at the price of a $35 book, it is financially unsustainable to print an environmentally friendly workbook and make it available for distribution through Amazon.  There needs to be enough profit margin to buy the next round of books to be printed as well as shipping, and with Amazon, that's simply not an option.

However, if doing an in-person workshop, where the book is just part of the workshop materials, it's sustainable to go with eco-friendly printing because the only other cost to consider is shipping and it can be folded into the cost of goods to produce the workshop or class, which would definitely be more than $35 in order to be sustainable to run as an in-person workshop.

The unhappy ending.

Since I will be traveling internationally the first year that the Pricing Workbook for Creatives is in production, I will not be able to manage storage of printed books, nor will I be offering workshops in person that will need bulk printed copies of the books.  I'll be giving in to Amazon's business engine, because it's what is going to help the most people while I travel, but not being able to print environmentally friendly is the part that makes me sad.

Hopefully, hearing stories from people around the world who use the workbook to launch their dream projects will make me hate Amazon less.  I hope so.  I need some light at the end of the Amazon distribution tunnel.

I promise to continue fighting and finding a way to make eco-friendly printing easier to access.  

This blog post is just the beginning of the journey to sharing resources around how we can overcome the financial issues involved with eco-friendly printing and focus on finding a better way toward greater financial sustainability with options that offer environmental sustainability.  For now, I have to do what I can to make sure the first year of this book is fiscally sustainable so that it can support the artists and creatives that it needs to serve.  My hope is that next year, I can focus more on workbook offerings that make use of eco-friendly printing sources, as a way to inspire others to do more of the same with the work they create.

The Pricing Workbook for Creatives is scheduled to be released in Kindle format on May 5, 2019.
Sign up if you would like to be on the early release notification: http://pricingworkbookforcreatives.com

Why a Pricing Workbook for Creatives?

The short answer?  

So that more creatives can have a successful business and rewarding life.

Want to be notified when the Pricing Workbook for Creatives is available?
>>> Sign Up to Get Notified of Early Release<<<

Scroll down for the much longer answer that made me create it in the first place.... 

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A post shared by Anne’s Adventures (@anneruthmann) on Dec 12, 2018 at 3:36am PST

I've been creative my entire life and never really had a sense of what I wanted to "be" when I grew up.  I only knew that being able to create, and finding ways to be creative made me happiest.  Figuring out how to share my creativity in productive ways and then how other people could value my creativity was ultimately the most important aspect of being able to do creative work for a living.

Here's a look at how that creative journey unfolded for me and what I learned along the way...

• Ballet, Tap, and Jazz Dance classes as a preschooler and elementary student taught me I didn't care so much about dancing unless it was just for fun or for my own personal expression.  I learned more about how to control my body, my movement, and the space around me at an early age, but also decided early on that dancing in someone else's footsteps wasn't my thing.
• Visual Art classes as a summer program and elementary student taught me about illustration, watercolor, painting, optical illusions, paper craft, and other cultures.  I loved those experiences but resisted the detail work that came with developing those practices.  I learned that visual art was a wonderful outlet for me when I needed to do something quiet, but still expressive. 
• Instrumental Music classes as an elementary, middle, and high school student gave me a sense of being part of a gestalt work toward something bigger than myself in which my part was important and valued while still requiring me to be sensitive to my balance within the whole structure of a piece.  I learned how to tune into what everyone else around me was doing.
• Vocal Music took me from singing in church as a kid to being a professional singer and soloist for choirs as an adult.  It allowed me to use my voice in a harmonizing way, connecting to an energy and body of sound much larger than myself.  Choral singing gave me a community of like-minded people who cared about creating harmonious and beautiful work together.  Auditioning for professional positions and top choirs taught me my voice was highly valued.
• Theatre Acting and Musical Theatre in elementary school, middle school, high school, and in the community taught me emotional control and personal development by playing character roles that were drastically unlike me or exactly like people I aspired to be.  It taught me how to speak and behave with intention; how to present a story in front of an audience full of people.  I learned how to be engaging when I needed to and how to hide in plain sight while in the middle of a stage.  I also learned the importance of picking myself back up after an audition rejection and learned how to better sell myself as the perfect fit.  These experiences later made me a top salesperson in regional cellular company.
• Tour Guiding and Youth Programming for an historic mansion allowed me to stretch my theatrical storytelling skills into engaging paid tours for adults and children, and reconnected me to my love of architecture, handmade craftsmanship, and local history.
• Music Teaching in the public schools as a long term substitute and teaching artist taught me I loved the process of engaging students in creating music for their own personal expression and as a way of dissolving cultural divides through a common creative goal, but I also learned I didn't love the overarching structure and constraints of public school systems, so working in the schools wasn't going to be a good fit for how I'd use and share my creativity.
• Photography self-study in high school never felt like it was going to turn into something beyond personal art creation and documentation, because I never saw entrepreneurial models of photography jobs that looked interesting until I started to meet wedding photographers who were self-employed.  I started sharing my own photography work with friends because it was an easy gift I could give them using my creativity.  It wasn't until people started offering to pay me for the photos I created that I even considered photography could be something more than a hobby.  I never could have guessed that it would become a full-time career for 13 years!  I had finally found the right combination of creative work I loved doing and the right people who valued it enough to pay me for it!
• Writing has always been easy for me, even if I'm not the greatest writer.  Despite my love of run-on sentences, there are other people who don't mind my run-on sentences so long as they aren't the ones writing them.  So when a surprise request came in recently asking me to be a ghost-writer, knowing how to price my creative time based on all the things I'd learned helped me easily come up with a financial arrangement that would allow me to accommodate a new creative request I never considered saying yes to before.

No one taught me how to be a freelancing creative, or a creative business owner, or how to make a living as a creative, I had to figure everything out along the way.  Now I can make it easier for others.

I was rarely supported or encouraged by well-meaning adults to go down any of these creative roads professionally.  Even though my parents made a point to say, "You can do anything you set your mind to, Anne" the school mentors and career counselors would say things like, "These creative passions are great hobbies to have in your life.  So, what are you going to do for money, Anne?"

At the time my passion was for theatre, however, my family didn't have the money for me to go to a performing arts school like Juilliard.  In addition, all of the career counseling advice I received along the way made it seem like even auditioning at a local college for performing arts would be a waste of money.  Career limitations were gradually culturally engrained while living in Lansing, Michigan.  I see why, because it was home to GM factory workers and state government employees.  In Lansing, the "real world" beyond high school or college was bereft of creative jobs or professional creatives making a living from pursuing their passions.  Most of the theatre happening there really was community theatre, except for the performance venues that hosted out of town touring acts.

The cultural ideas of "careers" in the environment I grew up in were very limited.  

They operated in the bubbles of what they believed would be safe and secure, rather than seeing me as someone capable of managing risk and operating in the realm of what would be possible when applying creative drive and ambition.  I wasn't mature enough to see the limitations of their perspectives.  I didn't have enough life experience or supportive mentoring to recognize all the opportunities and options that weren't being presented to me.  I had no entrepreneurial mentors or even just small business owners somewhere in my life to help me understand how I could apply my creative drive and talent into something that people would value and support!

I figured it out as I went.  

I did have the bulk of a business degree with some marketing, management, and accounting classes behind me to help me figure out the business end of things.  I figured out how to charge clients to help give me profit to buy more photography gear and insurance for my business.  I figured out how many clients I would need to serve and at what price to cover all of my business expenses and help me rent studio space and pay for independent contractors and support myself as a creative small business owner.  I figured out when my prices needed to go up because demand was exceeding my supply of time and energy.  I figured out what I needed to be accountable for in my revenue and expenses in order to keep doing work I loved.  I figured out how to recognize when I was falling behind and needed to market my work more to make up the difference.  I learned how to quickly restart my business over and over and over again to help support my husband's career transitions.

The business road maps that existed when I started were not designed for solo-preneur creative businesses- they were designed for commodity retail businesses, or standard service industry businesses.  The Small Business Development centers I went to in each town I moved to rarely ever had templates that fit my creative business.  Instead, they were full of models that involved more organizational overhead than what I would need to operate as a sole proprietor and independent contractor.

The more experience I had in the photography industry, the more I noticed massive business mistakes being made left and right by my colleagues.  Who could blame them?  What kind of leadership or training really existed for developing a creative business?  In 2004 - not much.

It's definitely getting better.  

Creative colleagues who went to university barely had one class on business training for their creative career- and I'm sure it's because professors were operating under the ideas that those students were seeking to be hired by larger agencies that would set their rates for them.  Colleges couldn't prepare curriculum fast enough for students who would need to work independently outside of the creative agency model.  We quickly entered into a new era of accessibility to independent freelancers through a variety of crowdsourcing platforms before anyone could create more training to make sure people knew how to price their independent creative work properly.

I asked my creative friends in other industries if this problem was unique to photographers, and every other creative told me it was just as challenging in their field as well.  There were very few creative business education options that spoke directly to how a creative operates and runs their business.  

To help fill the gap, I set out to share everything I had learned freely, on PhotoLovecat.com in an attempt to help raise the industry standards with accessible business information from actual working creatives.

The last 5 years have finally given rise to new educational platforms for creative business learning, but the resources are still somewhat limited, and often times behind larger pay-walls than what beginning creatives can really afford.  We can't rise the creative tides if the most valuable information isn't accessible enough, and that's why the Pricing Workbook for Creatives needed to be created.

Making a living as a creative has been the most amazing journey.  To be highly valued for your own unique vision of the world makes up for all those years of being the weird theatre and band kid who just wanted to be left alone to journal and paint.  If I can help make that road easier for other people, I truly believe it will help make the world a better place.  I believe that being valued for our unique talents, and finding ways for other people to value them in ways that fuel our lives is the highest purpose that each of us can ask to fulfill in our lifetime.  When we operate from a place of fulfillment and abundance, it becomes exponentially easier to help other people in the world as well.

So, that's the history behind my personal WHY for creating the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.

Now, here's how that history translates into WHY it's important to create this workbook for future creatives who seek to be valued for their work:

• To provide an easy and accessible framework for aspiring creatives that outlines the structures and supports unique to a creative business.  
• To provide a pricing framework that values a creative's mind, needs, time, tools, and energy- which gives creatives a solid foundation for pricing their work. 
• To provide a framework for individuals to shape their own personal version of what success and a professional creative life looks like.
• To provide a framework that allows individuals to be as unique and specialized as they need to be in order to support their creative work.
• To provide a structure for growing a creative business with meaningful formulas that allow room for each individual's vision of what growth looks like for them.

If I am successful, this Pricing Workbook for Creatives won't just be a workbook, but a movement.

A movement in which individuals will know exactly how valuable their creative work really is, and the workbook will support them in defending that value for themselves rather than allowing it to be defined by other people's assumptions.  A movement in which creatives feel empowered and confident to stand up for their worth rather than backing down and accepting less than what they need to be fully supported.  A movement in which the most unique and creative individuals can figure out what they need to make a living doing what only they can possibly do.

I believe in empowering more creatives to make a living doing what they love, and if you agree, I hope you'll help support the growth of this book too.

- Anne Ruthmann

Testing & Offering Something New

The audio version is 11 minutes long if you'd prefer to listen instead of read:

If the embedded player above doesn't load, <click here to listen> or just read below.

When I need to restart my business in a new region, there's a built-in need to test offering my services and skills to different people.  There's a built-in need to meet new people and make new connections.  There's a built-in need to better understand a new place and the perceptions of the people who reside within it.  I have to see how they respond, what they like, what they don't like, and what they value before I can understand how my service or product fits into their needs.  I also need to understand what questions they have, so that I can consider more thoughtful answers.  I have to do all of those things even when I already fully understand how people perceive what I'm offering every other place I've ever lived, because every single market, city, state, country, etc. is just a little bit different.

Since the information I need about new clients is stored in their heads and not mine, I have to talk to a lot of people in the community about the work I do and ask them questions in order to see how they respond.  Having people click a thumbs-up icon on facebook or a heart-icon on instagram isn't nearly as helpful as having face to face conversations with full body language included.  I learn so much more in a shorter period of time by talking to as many people as possible about the kind of work I do and why I'm passionate about it than by doing something like running ads or just posting online.

This is true when changing careers, changing industries, entering a new market segment, introducing a new product in the market, or doing anything in a new space or with a new audience.  We need to talk to people about what we're creating in order to get rich feedback.  The more we listen to the feedback of others, the more we can cultivate an offer and find the right market.

When I started testing the waters with being a reiki practitioner and whether or not I wanted to offer it to more people, I attended several local BNI meetings in NYC, where I had to deliver a 30 second pitch about what reiki is and who it's for.  BNI is a small-business-focused networking environment designed for speaking publicly about your offer and pitch in a short period of time, which is great for testing something new and getting immediate feedback.

During the causal BNI networking time before and after the formal part of the meeting, I also had a chance to ask questions, and I learned that the people who did not know what reiki was either nodded like they knew until I asked about their experience, or they just admitted they didn't know what it was.  When people really knew what it was, they immediately conveyed their prior experience, a healing story, or a story of someone else they know who practices reiki.  These conversations really helped me understand what percentage of people in this metropolitan area already had some experience or understanding with what I was offering, and how much advance education I'd need to do if I were going to make an offer, as well as how to identify what issues reiki could help with.

Another thing that happens when speaking to other people face to face about what I'm offering is that I contextualize my description differently based on the person I'm speaking with.  For the waiter who goes to the gym all the time, I describe reiki as a relaxing therapeutic method that can be similar to massage, but without roughing up muscle tissue.  For the cardiologist, I describe reiki as a method of practice that can help people regulate their own heart rate better, and it can be learned as a personal self-care practice or received hands-on as a therapeutic practice.  In one case, when I encountered a cardiologist, I also learned I didn't even have to describe it, because it was already in his medical understanding- so I got to check my perceptions as well about who may or may not understand it.  The main point is that by speaking about what I'm creating or working on with different people, I'm forced to make it relevant and understandable to many different types of people, which expands my vocabulary about what the work is and how it is relevant for different people.

This change of career, change of offering, and change of market is the first time I've really needed to reintroduce myself to people I've already met, as well as finding new people and new markets to introduce myself to, while living in the same place.  I'm discovering that it's much easier to step into a new city and introduce myself in a completely new way than it is to remain in a city with the same network I've had while going through a process of introducing a totally different direction to people who had already placed me into a comfortable and understandable box in their brain.  It's not really "difficult" to do this, it just takes time to catch everyone up on all the changes.  

Some people don't get the memo that I've made a big change until I see them again in person, so it can be a regular retelling of the change in direction story for a good year or more with people who had already known me under one industry title (Photographer) and now need an update on my change in direction (Reiki).  Luckily, most people I stay in touch with are totally cool with this change and still like staying connected even if we're in different industries.  Smart people stay connected no matter what because it can mean more referrals for them.

Ironically, the process of reintroducing myself and new work to familiar connections is almost the same as just starting up a new business in a new city anyway.  If there's anything I've learned over the last 14 years of working for myself and moving to multiple cities, it's how to introduce whatever I'm doing to an entirely new group of people as quickly as possible.  Doing this process with people who already know me is what makes this particular transition more unique than the others I've done.

Another thing that makes this particular transition unique for me is that I've been traveling a lot internationally and I have more international travel ahead, which means changing a lot of things about how I'm used to working.  So, I've been testing and trying more ways of working asynchronously so that I can have more time for adventures offline or just time to deal with spotty internet connections while traveling.  Photography required me to be with a client in person on a specific time frame, which just doesn't work when I don't even know exactly where I'll be in a week or a month down the road- let alone several weeks or months.

One way I've been building capacity for working asynchronously is to put everything I regularly help people with during consulting sessions into a DIY workbook format that makes it easy to go through the process I've perfected in a very simple step-by-step way.  It's a lot of time investment up front before there's a return on that investment of time, but getting it into the hands of people who can test the workbook part by part allows me to make progress on it more quickly before bringing it to the public.  I'm very proud of what this workbook will mean for the future of self-employed creatives and I can't wait to share it publicly.  There are still parts of the process that are a challenge to put on paper when I'm used to doing them it quickly in my head, so it takes time to break down the process into parts and pieces that can be accomplished in a simple step-by-step way.  I also have another book in the works, but if I can get the workbook done and ready first, that would be a huge packaging of so many things I've learned and would love for others to be able to do for themselves.

Another thing I've been testing is an asynchronous method of energetic and intuitive body readings, using what I've learned from reiki and medical intuitive clients.  It still requires getting permission from a client up front, but I've learned that I can do the work over a few days without the client needing to be present on video or the phone, and I can deliver the work in a tangible format that makes it easier for the client to undestand.  

In order to test whether I could do this work asynchronously and it would be viable and valuable to a client, I made a very easy and affordable offer to a facebook group of people who are open to taking a chance on a type of intuitive work they may not have experienced yet.  I limited the offer to a certain number of people and a certain timeframe in order to make sure I could deliver on my promise without being overwhelmed.  I learned that I was able to work with 6 people over the course of 3 days, which also helped me understand that I could only do 2 readings each day due to the energetic and entanglement nature of the work.  The clients provided feedback that let me know the work was still just as valid, confirming, and insightful even if I wasn't working in a synchronous way with them on the phone.  That was pretty cool, and when I feel ready to package that and make it available online, I'll gather a few more testimonials from clients about the process, and probably create a video about the process to help people better understand what's possible and why they might want to try it.

While my announcement in November about leaving photography and focusing on reiki may have felt abrupt or fast to people who don't speak with me offline, this process has not been without extensive testing along the way to see if I feel comfortable stepping into this new space and ready to deal with the challenges that may come along with it.  Testing my offerings and speaking with people was the only way I knew I could potentially pursue it all more fully.  I needed those conversations and confirmations along the way to feel confident about taking those next steps, regardless of whether I felt like I'd actually figured it all out.

I hope my personal examples and story inspire you to test anything new you're considering doing.  Life is far too expansive to limit yourself into one thing your entire life, or to never try to pursue something you're deeply passionate about.  You don't have to give everything up to test something out, you just have to be willing to be open with people that you're testing something you're curious about and looking for people who are open to trying it out.  You just might be surprised by who is willing to take you up on your offer, and where it goes from there.