It's how every professional stays on top,
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Hire a coach...

FROM: Lee Pound, The Write Coach
TO: Future successful business owners

Yes, that's right, even writers need a coach!

If you're like most professionals, you've considered writing a book to help take your business to the next level and to position yourself as an expert in your market.

And even though you knew it would make a huge difference in your business, somehow, that book just never got written. Other priorities came up, other problems arose, and somehow that day you were planning to start writing your book never seemed to arrive.

In fact, I know how it can happen. You see, for over 20 years, while I was a successful newspaper editor and reporter, I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to write a book. Just like you, that book never happened. It was a few notes on a sheet of paper, a couple of ideas that popped up every so often. Even though I was a professional writer, it never happened.

So I understand the frustrations you've felt. I've felt them too. I understand how that book that could make such a difference in your business just never gets top priority. It seems like so much work, so many hours, so many months that the prospect of that much work stops us even before we start.

Then one day almost 20 years ago, I sat down at my new computer and started writing. I wrote three hours a night, after a full day at work. I typed and typed and in about two months completed the first draft of a 600-page novel.

So what made the difference?

I always had a desire to write fiction. I read a lot of it but never actually wrote any. The key for me was that instead of trying to be perfect and waiting for the right words (which, by the way, never came) I just sat down and let the words flow, uncensored, onto the page. I gave myself permission to be a terrible writer.

Then, when the first draft was finished, I submitted to a very rudimentary coaching session. I showed the draft to a fellow reporter at the newspaper and asked her to read it and comment. Which she did.

I'll never forget her words.

She asked, "Do you really want to write fiction?"

"Yes," I said.

She handed the manuscript back. "Then I suggest that you take a few classes in writing fiction."

I took her coaching to heart and did just that. I went to conferences, found teachers, and eventually joined a writer's group, which is a close equivalent to today's group coaching. It had accountability, comment, questions, all the items we expect of a coach these days. And it made an incredible difference.

But did I hire a real coach?

Yes, I did. And not just any coach. About a year after I write that book, UC Irvine, invited Sol Stein, former owner of Stein & Day publishers and one of the most influential publishers of the 20th century to come to California and present a 10-week course on how to write dialogue. I signed up and finally saw what learning from a true expert was like.

When it ended, none of us wanted it to stop. Sol graciously agreed to come back to California the next winter and form a small group. I applied to get in and was accepted. Over the next four years I learned about writing and publishing from the master. He edited parts of my next two novels, featured me and others in his video, Stein on Writing, and became a friend as well as a mentor and coach.

He changed my life. His coaching made everything that followed possible. I formed my own publishing company, published my novels and books, published books for others, formed a seminar company with a wonderful business partner, and became an acknowledged expert in writing and publishing.

Then when I started my own business, I hired a marketing coach, Lisa Cherney. She helped me design the business and the marketing strategies. Her coaching is a major reason for my ongoing success and even today she is still my coach.

What about your problem getting started on your book?

You see, I wrote a draft of that book but without coaching I would never have gone further. This is the power of coaching and the reason that every great athlete has a coach, that most business owners and executives have coaches, that Fortune 500 companies get their top leaders coaches. They excel because they have a coach who encourages them, draws their best ideas out of them, keeps them accountable, and acts as trusted advisor.

A coach will help you get started, be there when you falter, encourage you to continue, ask questions to keep you focused, and keep you writing.

A good writing coach will also show you how to organize your book, how to keep the reader reading, how to get it edited, design it and get it published.

Read a few comments below about my editing and coaching from those who have experienced it.

"...took my book to a whole new level of professionalism." I want to acknowledge and thank you for the enormous contribution you made to my new book, Unshackled Leadership. While the previous edition had also been professionally edited and I sent the new manuscript to you for what I thought would be some "fine tuning," what you did was so much more. As a result of your editing, the book know reads in a way I can be truly proud of. I have also implemented all of the suggestions you made which took the book up to a whole new level of professionalism. You clearly know your stuff and I happily recommend your services to anyone wanting first class editing.                                            Scott Hunter, Speaker, Coach, Consultant

"...was the guiding force..." Lee helped me publish my first book, Precision Selling: 21 Winning Strategies to Achieve Peak Performance. Not only did he give me some terrific advice, he did my editing, proofreading, publishing, and was the guiding force behind the entire process. I've hired him to edit and publish my second book. If you want to publish a book, this is the guy to hire!                                                          Patrick McClure, Connexia Group

Wow! How can I get coaching like this?

I considered whether I wanted to offer this option for a long time before deciding that you as a writer and business owner will benefit enormously from one on one coaching. In fact, a lot of experts who have coached individuals in the past have stopped doing it, making it even more difficult to get coaching from a true professional.

I decided to continue to offer individual coaching because I've seen the results in my own career and want you to have those same results in yours.

The goal of this individual coaching program is to help you write and publish your book and to teach you basic persuasive writing tools that will get your message across to your readers. This program is oriented to a specific outcome for you: the publication of your book.

Here's how it works...

This is a truly personal relationship. You and I will work closely together to make sure your book becomes reality. When we are on the phone together, my attention will be on your project and nothing else. You can ask questions, get guidance, send work for review, and get immediate feedback. You get accountability, set your own goals and work toward them at your own pace but always with a schedule in mind. It goes like this:

• Every week we meet by phone for half an hour during which we work on your project.

• The first calls will take you through the scheduling and outlining process where you will get clarity on exactly what you need to do and how long it will take to make your book a reality.

• You will send each completed chapter to me and we will discuss it on the phone.

• I will coach you through problems you may have such as writers block.

• You will learn how to grab the attention of your reader immediately and keep your reader reading through the entire book.

Since this coaching program is designed to help you complete your book, I expect you to do the following:

• Make a commitment to do the work you promise to do.

• Set specific goals to finish your book and follow them.

• Be open to suggested changes in your work and writing.

• Be open about any issues which might keep you from finishing your book.

That's it. We work together to make your dream happen. Take a moment now to imagine your new future now that your book is finished.

I shudder to think of where I would be today if I had not signed up for that dialogue class so many years ago and if I had not applied to be in Sol Stein's coaching group.

If you've read this far, you are facing this same choice.

Do you keep doing what you are doing now, keep hoping you might start that book next month or next year, knowing that you are likely to never do so?

Or do you act now to get the powerful coaching you need to get that book written and become the acknowledged expert in your market?

It's easy to say no, to say you could write except for a few problems. It's too easy to just put off the decision.

Make your decision now. Decide to take your business and career to the next level. Decide to be extraordinary, not just one hidden in a faceless crowd.

I look forward to working with you to make your dream of becoming a published author a reality.

Warmly,

PS: This is a rare opportunity to get personal coaching from a working writer, editor and book publisher. At $550 per month it's a steal.