Welcome Liz. I know that you have written ten books. Which one has resulted in the best income opportunities for you?
Without a doubt it's Working from the Heart: A Practical Guide to Loving What You Do For a Living, which was published by Random House in 1999. At that time I was a freelance contributor to British Airways' Business Life magazine. After I gave the editor a copy of my book she invited me to write a 1,000 word article because she liked the idea of finding work that you could connect with emotionally—work you could love.
Business Life was available to passengers on every pan-European British Airways flight for a month and when that particular issue came out, my article just happened to be read by an executive from Cathay Pacific Airways. He'd been charged with finding a speaker for the company’s upcoming re-launch of the airline’s first class seats and invited me to give a 45-minute pre-dinner presentation talking about passion for work—an aspect of company culture of which Cathay was extremely proud.
The talk went well, I walked away with my check, airline tickets for two to Hong Kong and a glowing testimonial. More importantly, on the back of that experience, I bought the domain "Heartwork.com" put up a website, offered myself as a consultant and speaker on the importance of recruiting, motivating and retaining passionate employees, and began marketing my services. I started to get a lot of corporate clients, including a British government agency (I lived in England at the time), KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and others.
Although Working from the Heart never sold as well as several of my other books, it's probably been the one title most responsible for attracting what many agree is the best way of accumulating wealth—multiple streams of income. I wrote paid magazine articles on the topic, became a motivational speaker, corporate consultant, and career coach, all as a result of that one book.
Liz, how might other authors achieve something similar to your success?
Three things:
1. Don't be shy about the expertise you have demonstrated by writing your book. Conceiving, researching, crafting and writing a book is no mean feat. Once you show confidence as a subject-matter expert, others will show confidence in you—including wanting to hire you for freelance assignments and consulting work.
2. Say "yes" to whatever comes along and let the "how" unfold organically. For example, I had done very little professional speaking when that executive from Cathay Pacific approached me. I could have turned down their offer and joined Toastmasters or some other speaking group to gain experience. But I believe the best training comes from taking risks and placing yourself in real-life situations that matter. You’ll never know what you are capable of until you try.
3. Think of all the different ways in which the knowledge offered in your book might lend itself to new career directions. Not only did I target businesses which, at that time, were having recruitment and retention issues, but I also offered career coaching to individuals. Some were women going back into the workplace after raising a family, others were suffering from the classic mid-life crisis—having climbed the ladder of success, they realized it had been up against the wrong wall! Regardless of their age, background or gender, all of my clients wanted to find work that was personally meaningful and I coached them towards that outcome.
Anyone who has demonstrated their expertise by having a book published should be sure not to miss out on attracting other career opportunities and income streams.
Dr. Liz Alexander a.k.a. The Book Doula is the author of ten nonfiction books that have sold close to half a million copies worldwide. She assists subject-matter experts in creatively conceiving, growing, birthing and marketing "brilliant" books.
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