975 | Building the Thing You Once Said You’d Never Do Again

0:00If you have ever listened to own your choices on your life, this is a moment that I do not take lightly. This podcast started with one voice, one mic and a phone, and the decision to share stories and help people to recognize that they were not alone in their own journeys. Now we are very close to celebrating 1,000 episodes with a live in-person podcast event. If this show has ever shifted your thinking, helped you find your voice, reminded you of what is possible. This room, this live event is for you. It is intimate, it is small, it is March 21st in Kitchener Waldo, Ontario. If you are nearby, we would love to have you there. I can't wait to celebrate with you. Welcome to the own your choices on your life podcast. I know you were here wanting

1:00to change and rewrite your story. You are desiring to step into the impact that you know you were here to create. I am here to guide you with the proven tools and strategies used by myself and our speakers to support you in taking radical responsibility in your life and learning how to own your choices to change your story. My name is Marcia Van Winsberg. I am a storytelling business coach, master NLP trainer, speaker, podcaster, and seven times publish author. My clients have found freedom and purpose from overcoming their shame stories and learning how to share them with the world. I am so grateful you are here. Let's get started. What are we even talking about? Well, first off, I've got a guest joining me, so who are you?

2:00First of all, is this a guest episode or is it going out of the solo episode? Well, yeah, this is so low, but I still want people to know who that other voice is. Yeah. So just checking. Uh-huh. Yeah, so I'm too rude and I helped to manage and edit Marcia's podcast flash life sometimes. Um, no of a real. I started podcasting and helping, helping podcaster really within the last three and a half years. And I just love it. Uh, supporting shows. I have a lot of clients in Canada and in America. And it's just really cool to be able to support people in this way compared to my former career. And it all started because I wanted to start my own podcast back in 2018 because I was inspired by Marcia Van Winsberg, who was one of the OG podcasters out there. And I remember scraping walls in the house that we were renovating.

3:06It just kept tapping me like start a podcast, start a podcast and through that process, I just learned how to build one. And now I get to help others build theirs and it's super fun. And I don't have to touch bodies anymore. So that's great. Sure. She has a massage therapist in case you're wondering. Yes, it fits that. Let's do the side. Was there five minutes? Oh my gosh. So I love this because, um, I, in 2018, when you were listening to me in 2018, we didn't really know each other. No, I was still like, fan grilling you on Facebook and thinking you were so famous. And now I know that you are, but now I get to be like a part of the journey. So is this like a test process for our 1000th episode, this great fear of doing live. I feel like it. We are actually selling in tickets and preparing for a live podcast episode in Kitchen War Lou, if you're in the area. I don't know about the time

4:12and listen to this for my NFP and tickets left, which is a great problem to have. So we are in a space right now that we're doing this live. And it's something that, you know, there's a lot of things that Sue and I do behind the scenes. And when she said earlier, like, how to manage things, that she's no joke. Literally, like this, this podcast would not exist to the level that it does. If it wasn't for Sue. And so podcasting is a big piece of my business, as well as publishing, which is speaking of, I think when I think of you, I think of you as like the ninja behind the scenes, but literally one of the most self-taught people that I know, like, you have literally taught yourself these things that most people will go, what is that? Like, what is that? I don't understand. Yeah, I don't know where it came from. The drive, my ability to learn something and not to even perfect anything just to like figure it out, to no matter what it is. I feel like I was always like that, like in my former career.

5:21I finished school and without misogyny people, feeling like I could help them feel better in a better way. Like there has to be a different modality or a better deal for me to learn. And so that's when I found my own fashion was like, yeah. And so that was kind of, you know, my learning and exploring and self-taught portion of that career. But even growing up, it was, you know, I feel like I was such a loner. Like I say this to my daughter all the time. I'm like, I was not cool growing up. And she was like, really? You weren't cool. My daughter thinks I'm cool, which is like the best world. But, you know, I was always, you know, I left at 18, just figure out, I knew I didn't want to live in Welland. And I didn't know what I was going to do. But I knew I could figure it out. It was like this innate feeling inside of me. And that's how I feel with podcasting and that's how I thought with book over the last couple of years as well,

6:22figuring out how to make books. I was like, well, learn it. So, so you did. And we wouldn't, I mean, I mean this whole heartedly. This publishing is I'm a piece of it. I am not the public. I am a piece of it. We bring it together like literally. No, you're a big piece of it because a lot of things, a lot of pieces, Marshall, that I don't touch. Nor do I ever want to touch because it's such a beef. Like if we think of the podcast show, even, you know, switching to video or adding video and all of these, like extra pieces, that seemed easy compared to publishing a book. Doesn't it? It actually, you know, we're rebuilding out the whole publishing end of the business, which I'm so grateful for. I'm loving how it's coming together. We're not rebuilding it. You're building it. You're continuing to build it in a higher level. It was like, we took all of the steps over the last two years. And without even think maybe this isn't going

7:30to work. Maybe it's not. I think this is really important to say because, you know, as we're building, thank you for the reframe. I'm always here to be like, recommended and reframed because I do it to everybody. And it's so true. It is so true. Like we are building it. But one of the questions that I was asked when they're building this site is like, why? Why are you doing it? Like if most people would look at this work, they would literally go the other way because it is so much more work than what people think. And so sometimes some people come in and they're like, I said, cause so much money to publish a book. And I'm like, the amount of hours and time, yes, AI can automate some things when it comes to grammar checking, but it doesn't build it. And so that's another whole episode of the time. But I just want to share from that lens because it is interesting when I look at it and go, how, why are we so passionate about

8:30this? I've lost the answer. So you want me to answer? Now, how much time do we have? Tell me, you added this podcast. Yeah. Go ahead. It takes month to bring a book to fail. And there are so many components that go into it. It's not just uploading a Google Doc into Amazon. And there you go. Like there's, I honestly think some people think that. Yeah. You know, we've had conversation, mostly you about, oh, my book is finished. And then we get it. And we're like, no, no, not even. So I think that that's where there's a discrepancy where an author believes that they're ready to go, but they're not. And there's, you know, so much different editing

9:32that goes in, like you said, we could use AI, but a lot of the times we don't, because you can tell when something's written in AI and you can tell when something is authentic now, like it's a radar that we have. And that's not what we're about. We don't want to just produce that sort of stuff, right? Like we want it to be super authentic because like it's both publishing for a reason. It is your boy, right? So then, yeah, through design elements, they're, like formatting everything and an e-book of a different format than a paperback and a hardcover is a different format than all of those two as well. Like nobody thinks about that. And then all the wall is another format. Just, yeah, I learned how to do that this year. That was, I mean, that was really easy. I was like, she won't thought, okay, you were just, when you saw me message, like, I'm going to learn how to do not audible. And we're going to, we're going to do that and add that to the, I'm like, okay, yeah, no, it's definitely, as we sit here, you know, it's interesting because I have actually really

10:37thought about it in the last, since that question was posed to me. And I do think that in order to take it back to why we chose to do this, we have to take it back two times when, you know, those wallkicking moments that don't work out that I know there was a point I'm not kidding in 2022, I'm like, I'm never doing this again. It's just, yeah, never doing this again. And it wasn't because, and let me just be clear in this, it wasn't because of the authors, it was because of the process, it was the process. Is that fair to say? And the amount of work we realized, especially with the collaborative book where you have, how many, we had 13, 14 different voices, you know, it's different than a solo book, it's the same tone through the whole book. So it's easier to edit than 15 different chapters with different tone. So we realized how much work goes into those

11:37books specifically. And yes, there was, and we were going through, I mean, I was going through a ton of grief at that time. It was a really, really hard time. We're personally and collectively, I feel like we were in a really, like a really heavy spot. And it felt like this is just so much work. I don't know if I can do this again. But then we looked back and we think, wow, that was truly the catalyst to create this. But we didn't go through that. It's always like, you know, when people, like, you know, you got to hit rock bottom in order to change your life, like, like back up, like, yeah, 2022 was like really heavy and really hard. But we wouldn't be here with things working a little bit easier and loving it now, like starting to love it. You know, it's business. There's always going to be things that you love. But overall, what else would we

12:40be doing right now? This is like, it feels like I'm going to say and back it out too. I don't remember, I think, so this would be two years ago, specifically, but probably two and a half years ago, I had a download of, like, so as we were talking, it was three years ago that we said we're never doing this again. Two and a half years ago, I had a download and a meditation and an event in that download was seeing all these people hold their books. And it was like, you're going to start publishing. And I remember, like, you know, those downloads that come down and I'm like, oh, no, but what? What's happening? Are you serious? And it was this, like, yes, this is what we're doing. And I could see this collective, like, I'm talking probably up to 40 people standing on this beach. There was a mountain and they're all holding a book. And I remember, I sat with that for a little bit. And I remember coming to you and saying, what do you think about this? Because,

13:41like, at first, I'm not going to do this on my own. And I'm not that you are the person that I would do this with because we walked through so much over the last few years and have built a connection to work together. That is, it's really important when you're doing this kind of work. And I remember asking you, and I honestly, my recollection of your words back to me, where would you already, like, what? Why are you doing this? And it was just like, really? Like, I couldn't. And this is the piece I love to share so much. You can have a download, but until you see yourself as the version of the person who can actually do it, that's all that matters because I could have started working like crazy then. And I didn't see it yet. It took me time to see. And I still think I'm seeing it. It's not, it's like, as it continues to grow and evolve. But you know, I had a moment late last year where I thought, well, it's so weird because you know, that vision almost two years ago, two and a half years ago was about 40 women holding their books. And I thought, that's

14:41like, how am I ever going to reach that many people? And then it hit me that over the last two years, how many people's stories have we published? You know, a collaborative book with 24, which is probably the hardest job we've ever done. I can check that off for sure. And then our leading like new collaborative authors, you know, creating a blueprint to help people build their own collaborative book. And our solo authors and solo books that we've done, I went, oh my God, we're actually not far from that number. She really closed the 40. I know. So it's just really in a space that, you know, you can have that download. But again, if I back it up, why am I so passionate? I thought so much about this. And for me, it all started with sharing a story. Every single thing I do is about sharing a story. And from the very beginning, it was like not just sharing my story, but like spotlighting and putting the highlight on other people's stories and

15:45sharing their stories and getting their message out into the world. And there's a lot of different ways that we do that. Do that through coaching. I do it through speaking. I do it in the podcast. We do it in publishing. It really does come down to stories. And I know to some people that they would look at this and go, I've not people say, there's a much easier way to make money than what you're doing right now. And I'm like, yep, and you know what, at the end of the day, I like to play the movie out to the end. And will I be grateful that we've done this work a hundred times over, a hundred times over? Yeah. I love that you said that there's a lot easier ways to make money. And as you were speaking there, I just thought to myself, you know, yeah, we could have we could have taken the skills that we had and go work for someone else. Yeah, I sure I just had a little cringe moment. But you and I are not one to work for other people. We've been there, done that. And it's

16:47yeah, mine. But that's not what carries us and moves us forward and helps us to evolve. Like I don't, I'm so grateful for you. I don't even know what I would be doing if I didn't have you in my life. Like I would not be doing any of these things. Okay, now I'm trying to, yeah, we'll try not to cry. Yeah, I'm trying. No, but I seriously. And so when I'm planning, I'm taking upon myself to plan Marsh's 1000 podcast episode event because that's me. I'm a control freak when it comes to running events. And I was like, just gonna do it. I'm so excited to celebrate in a room full of everyone who loves you. And you inspire every single one of those people in the room and and beyond. Like, yeah. And this is just the beginning. But this is where all that you have done, all of that accumulation, that's the impact that you have

17:54created over all, you know, all of these things that you've done in both your certification and my past and books and everything like that. That people on stage are shouting you out because you have helped them inspire them or impacted their career in life. And and that why you created the that's why we don't Jeff. Okay, let's go work for blah, blah, blah, whatever company. Like no, I am just I am receiving this in so many ways. And for me, it there's a lot of things that hit. But 10 years ago, I was entirely immune. I mean that if people look at like I there's no the people in my life. I heard Christie Crate say the other day and and I don't know if she wants me to say this or not, but that's like we had to choose our people, right? We choose. I'll just say if we choose our people. And it's so much more than blood. It's oh my god, it's so much more than blood.

19:00So much more than blood. And so in this space, you know, I have had people say like I just don't have what you have for people. And I'm like, you know what? I felt that too. Again, why I feel so driven to share stories. So people can realize they're not alone. And at the same time, if you want to find your people, you are not going to find them if they can't see or hear you. I love you, but holy shit. Seriously, like they can't find you if you won't step up or share or be in the room or do like use your voice to like no one can find you. It's so noisy as it is right now in the online space that if you can't stand up as who you are and share that. And if you have blocks for doing that, which you get, I don't I'm not judging that. We've all had it. But that's something you can do, right? That's something you can work on. But that's how you find your people. You can't find them on your own. And in fact, you have to lose a lot. I lost so much

20:06over those years. And even now, there are still times that it's like, I have to walk away from things that most people wouldn't understand and don't understand. But it's like, no, my energy is not going there. That's not where it's going. I don't believe the words that I'm hearing. This is who I am. And this is what I want to do. And I want it to be spoken long after I'm gone that I inspire people to like stand up, share their story, use their voice and realize that they're not alone because we reach people that we haven't met yet. And that's just such a big piece of what I want to continue to inspire people to do. So I rebuild out of publishing. We're building out what it looks like from start to finish. And the reason that, you know, we've built out the right your Danbook program, which has been a series that I've been hosting in the podcast for the last month, just to support people and writing a book. The reason we're doing it is because I feel like there is so much misinformation or misunderstanding of what it actually

21:10looks like to build a book. And if people come through that program, you know, our intention was that we could set up all the steps and at least show people, you want to go figure it on your own, you can. You can. You can do it 100% on your own if you want to. Also, there's always this sticker shop price with people that are like, why? Why does it cost them? It's the hours. There's so many hours that go in to making it. And you know, my book was 5,000 US nine years ago. I paid for and I still did a lot myself a lot myself. And your book with 110 pages. So there's a lot of books that are 300 pages. Yeah. And full of the time, right? Like a detail minus stories, minus like quotes, et cetera. You know, people they come in and they have the ideas of like, I want it to be pictures and food and and all these things. It's like, I did you understand what that changes in

22:10the pricing like and you might not. But we really wanted to set people up for success to understand what the process looks like so that if they want support and doing it, they can. But that's that's been a big piece of them putting together. Yeah. And I like being fed up right now in the back end sort of like the full package. Yeah. Or sort of allocard hybrid. What do you want to hire out and what do you want to work on yourself? Or have a friend do like the graphics or something and you have a friend that you want their art in it? Great. Okay. That's left for the graphic designer in the publishing house. Yeah. So I love the options. And I was having a conversation the other day with a friend about someone else self publishing. And there's a lot of the technical stuff behind the scene that publishing have the don't share with their authors. So you know, the steps

23:15to loading it into KDP. Yeah. That's not something that openly shared anywhere. You know, purchasing ISBN and US versus getting them in Canada. Like we figured that out. But it's not something that is out there that that anyone would really know. I mean, so I really love that sort of information, not even the how to, but like this is what we can help you with. And a lot of authors are like, oh, I didn't even know I had to do that. Oh, I didn't even know about this. You know, so yeah, I think that teaching potential authors about all of the steps is important. Yeah. I love that you said that because we're just really trying to inform people just to inform them so they can make their own decisions because at the end of the day, we also are in the process of like continuing to grow. We have a few contract people that work behind the scenes with us. And I see that only continuing to grow. And it's very important. I don't see us at this point.

24:22You know, oh, let's take on 20 books and do that. No, like these are, these are books that speak to us right now. Like they are like, they're fast to be a connection to start with for now. In my opinion, like a meaning behind it. And we have a male authors book that we're working right now. And I'm loving, loving, going through. Can't wait for this one to come. I really can't. And there's already some things happening behind the scenes where he's connecting. Not sure if you saw messages that came through this morning. I did. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, well, and I love the proactive author. Great point. Yeah. So there are people who are wanting to promote themselves, you know, get on podcast, reach out to other people, speakers who, you know, can share their story or help get their story out there a little bit more, like help with the marketing side of it. Yeah. Because that's what you got to do. Not just like your book's going to

25:27sit on Amazon or in chapters and this is going to fly off the shelf. Like we have to, just when you were said earlier, like you have to speak and share your story and use your voice for people to even find you the same thing with telling your book thing exact same. I'm so glad you said that because I think that's again, people assume it just goes out there and it's done. And you know, I'm watching one of our authors right now who is promoting the heck out of her book. And I am just like, oh my god, you go. Like I'm so excited in how you're doing it. She's found her way, but she has, that's the thing. Your story will only continue to go if you speak into it. Like it is, it's your responsibility because it's your story. It's your book. Yeah. And a lot of authors that have felt published their story is to be a lead magnet for their business or to help catapult their career and whatever that is. Yeah. So that's usually in my opinion,

26:28like the biggest reason to get your book out there, you know, start the process now and get it out there because it only snowballs from there. Like we look at our first author that we worked with who took a chance on us. And she's still like full steam ahead. And I love I love watching it. It's great thing. Same. I mean, I cheer them on. Don't stop and see it. And so it's just it's so much fun to see it as we are compiling the folder with all the assets so that they can build this piece of the website. I even had a moment where I just I paused. I was like, look at this. Like look at all the different ones that we have done already. And that is while we're figuring out while we're learning and putting our whole heart into it. Like it's not a case of like all figure it. Like we have literally been in the bunkers at times trying to figure out these pieces, find solutions, get resourceful, like get it done by deadlines, launch parties. Oh my gosh. I've found that and

27:31I'm not going to do it here. That will go down into history as like the most crazy over the top breathful. But we figured it out. Yeah. You know, there are a few little things with the final print. But I mean, overall, like we found a great printer. Like I can't wait to use them again for another project. And again, yeah, it's like you got to do these things in order to grow. And I think I think we're still in the baby status, honestly. Oh yeah. I do. I think we're definitely there. And I am really grateful for being in a position right now that, you know, it's deciding to invest in this back end piece to build a foundation because in my opinion, it's been like we figured a lot of things out. But now we're building this foundation that can continue to hold what we're building. That's what I see it. I see it as like it's just it's now the start where it's like we are building this foundation so that we can fold more and more

28:34blocks to bring them to life. Yeah, and it needed to be streamlined. Our own organization of things and to be able to, you know, schedule things properly and have the proper deadlines in place. And I know it's just going to it's going to be easier and easier as we grow. But I have a question for you. Think about outspoken publishing in 10 years from now. And what do you feel? What do you see? Oh my god. I just saw a like big space where there was like a podcasting studio. There was public. I have no desire to have a brick and mortar, but that's also as you said it. I was like, I see this podcasting studio. I see this space. I see it having so many people that I love be part of it that I know bring different skillsets. And I see us doing bigger, I make our books. We're going to have a building. I don't know. And maybe

29:38maybe it's a virtual building because I kind of believe in the virtual. But maybe it says virtual building, but I see different facets of it. Like I've been saying for years, I think the podcasting is going to be somewhere. It'll end up being a whole thing on its own. I really do. I feel like it's going to be huge. But I've been saying that for like probably two years is that that's what it's going to look like. And I mean, again, I've had many people say like, why? Why do you keep doing it? Like, do you, are you pay for it? You do. And I'm like, because I like it. And that's enough of a reason. But these doesn't have to be. I like it. And it generates indirect income. Yeah. We're all the other things like as company authors have come to you because of the podcast. How many people have come through your open because of the podcast? Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's going to continue on its own. But I also see like just this ego system that's happening where we've got their books as well. And I see it continuing to grow in ways that the rig. I feel like it's just

30:43I just do. I've been saying it to Brad for the last two years. I can imagine like two years ago. He's probably like, Oh my God. She's just like, thank you. You watch, just you watch. This is what I'm doing. And he's like, OK, but it's happening. And that's like, that's what I see. So that's what I see. What do you see? Yeah, I don't know if I see a physical building because that's something we don't actually need. I see a vent. Yeah. I see a big room with event. Yeah. And celebrating. So I mean, I'd be out of beach with mountains behind us. But the others holding up their book. You know, I'm planning our author party in November. And that's what I see is not just not just not just our collaborative authors. It's going to be honoring them of course. But all of the other solo authors are invited. And I can see it being an annual event. I love that. I love that. And

31:44maybe that's part of what I just see this big ecosystem happening. It is bigger ecosystem happening. And it's so interesting because I do think that me learning how to be open to receiving support has allowed me to stop being the cog in the wheel. It's going to be totally real with you for a second. I am. I am. And I write that down every day. I've written it for the last six months. Like is the fact that I openly allow myself to receive support and in the whole back end of the business. And every time something happens, I'm like, see, that was like receiving support. That's sort of like it's proof. It's proof. It's this isn't this is a collaborative approach. This is not like this is not just me by any means. So I see definitely see that. Is there anything that we've missed when it comes to publishing that is important to share that you can think of? Just like podcast episode, everything is editable. No, good point. You the author that's that have

32:50books that are like second edition, third edition. Guess what? They've just been edited and added to. So you can do that too. If you have, I don't know. If you have a story you want to share in and it in the basic point form, stages, expand on that, create something and get it out there. You can always create a second edition add on to it. That's what I want to say. Oh, I love that point. Thank you. Be so in that then don't stress or worry that it has to be perfect completely. Dine, et cetera. Yeah, because then you'll be waiting forever because nothing's perfect. No. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Own Your Choices on Your Life. If you love this episode, I invite you to tag me on social media with your takeaways

33:53or share it with a friend. Please, if you feel called, take 30 seconds to leave a five star review and I will be forever grateful. Until next time, remember when you own your choices, you truly own your life.