April 2, 2024 • 38 mins
Have you ever considered the profound impact that sharing a story can have on healing a heart marked by trauma? This is the central theme of my heartfelt conversation with Stephen Leapley, a ghostwriter whose life has been dedicated to serving those in the military and emergency services community. Through his words, we uncover how the act of storytelling can be a lifeline for individuals grappling with PTSD, providing a pathway to preserve legacies and foster connections that run soul-deep.
The tales of military and first responders aren't just about valor; they're human experiences rich with emotion and complexity. This episode peels back the layers of these stories, as Stephen paints a candid picture of the lives behind the uniforms. Our discussion ventures into the intricacies of ghostwriting and the unique character development that unfolds when translating lived experiences onto the page. In a particularly moving segment, Stephen shares how his diverse background enables him to empathize deeply with his subjects, creating narratives that resonate with authenticity and transform traumas into teachable moments.
Join us as we explore the various facets of writing, from crafting children's books to penning business proposals with a finesse that transcends the written word. Stephen's insights offer a kaleidoscope of perspectives on how writing can be a joyful learning process, a strategic business tool, and a powerful means of sharing one's personal journey. By the end of our conversation, you'll feel inspired to capture your own stories or perhaps help others to do so, understanding the undeniable power that comes from the simple yet profound act of telling a tale.
As a First Responder, you are critical in keeping our communities safe. However, the stress and trauma of the job can take a toll on your mental health and family life.
If you're interested in personal coaching, contact Jerry Lund at 801-376-7124. Let's work together to get you where you want to be and ensure a happy and healthy career.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jerry (00:02):
Welcome to today's episode of Enduring the Badge
Podcast.
I'm host Jerry Dean Lund, andif you haven't already done so,
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(00:22):
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So if you would do that, Iwould appreciate that from the
bottom of my heart.
My very special guest today isStephen Leapley.
How are you doing, stephen?
(00:43):
I'm good.
How are you doing, jerry?
Good, thank you, stephen.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience and just give a
little bit of background aboutwho you are?
Steven (00:51):
Sure I well, that would be too easy.
I don't like to talk aboutmyself.
I'm a little no, I was.
I originally from the Midwest,I grew up in the Midwest and
then joined the military, spent10 years in the Navy as a
corpsman and ended up in SanDiego where I met my wife and
(01:16):
never left, basically Once Ifound her, and the beautiful
weather it's a much betterweather out here than it is in
Chicago and I did 16 years pastmilitary as a paramedic.
And so I was paramedic andworked for the government, for a
couple of private ambulancecompanies out here, some
(01:38):
consulting businesses that I hadin the medical field, and then,
through a series of events,ended up falling into being a
ghost writer.
And in that journey of startingoff as a copywriter doing this
copywriting, and then thatjourney of kind of figuring out
where my niche was and where Iwanted to land, I kept landing
(01:58):
on like three different thingsand I'm like I got it.
You know that struggle betweenthe initially you can't serve
everybody.
If you try to serve everybody,you serve nobody, kind of thing.
And so in looking at that andjust I found a little sweet spot
of all three of my areas that Iwork with, which is in the
(02:21):
entrepreneurial world.
Being a former EMS field andthen military, specifically in
the medical field and military,I kind of fallen into like just
kind of grouped all three ofthose together.
So now my focus is reallyhelping military vets and EMS
professionals kind of just telltheir story and help get their
story out there.
Jerry (02:42):
Yeah, I mean, I believe everybody has a story.
You talked to a lot of peopleand they'll tell you they don't
have a story.
But I don't really believe that, because once you start digging
into their life, there's astory to be told.
What is it for you that like?
What does that excite you tolike help someone tell their
(03:02):
story?
Steven (03:05):
I think one is I love books.
I've been an avid reader for awhile, so I love reading books.
I love the whole storytellingprocess.
I think deep down inside I havea secret desire to be a
stand-up comedian, which isreally telling funny stories.
But I haven't got over my fearto stand up in front of a bunch
of people who might not laugh atmy jokes.
(03:27):
But there's just an element oflike.
I look back over my career inthe medical field and I mean, oh
my gosh, there's so manystories I could tell.
Some of them are professionalstories, different kind of
accidents you've seen andincidents you've been involved
(03:47):
with.
Some of them are funny stories.
Some of them are justinappropriate stories.
We all have stories and it allkind of like ties us in.
It's like there's only a fewindustries, ems field being one
of them.
For me that's fire, police,ambulances.
(04:08):
I group all that together theEMS field and the military.
Those are two groups of peoplethat if you work any time in,
it's like you become your ownfamily because you spend a lot
of time with them and they knowyou and you get to know them.
That trust builds up and youand I can work together for five
(04:29):
years and never see each otheragain for 20 years and pick
right up where we started off orwe left off at 20 years ago.
I think it says a lot about thetype of industry it is and it
says a lot about the caliber ofpeople who spend their careers
in that industry.
(04:51):
When we look back, I talk to alot of people and I've got as a
ghost writer.
I've done books for people whohave their story and they use it
for their business.
I'm currently right now helpinga doctor write her story and
now she's a doctor but she'salso like a transformational
wellness coach.
(05:11):
She kind of uses both of thoseHer story of overcoming her past
.
She's writing that to use thatinto her business.
I've had people who havewritten their stories and this
got me.
This is kind of where I reallyfell into.
It was helping a buddy of minewho's a prior SEAL, navy SEAL
(05:33):
and a fire medic tell his story.
He was like this has done morefor my PTSD than therapy ever
did.
That whole catharsism,catharticism, catharticness.
There we go, huh, better Iwrite, better than I speak.
That's why I write.
(05:56):
There's something that happenswhen we write our stories out.
If you're a journaler and youjournal, you feel better.
You might still be angry, butif you can journal out your
anger, you feel lighter.
When he said that to me, thatreally hit me like, yeah,
there's a place for telling ourstories.
I've had people who just wantto tell stories and I'm going to
(06:18):
guys write a story.
He wants to make 10 copies ofhis book and send it to his 10
grandkids.
That's all he wants to do, andso it's like just the legacy
that we leave behind isincredible.
And yeah, we can tell storiesand that's one of the beautiful
things about podcasts we have it, we put it up and you can go
(06:40):
back and you can see it and hearit.
And alongside of that, I thinkthere's also something really
tangible about having a book.
You're like this is like mygreat grandpa's story, because
once they're gone, I found out Iwas a military medic and I
found out after my grandfatherdied that he was an army medic
(07:04):
at D-Day and I never knew thatwhen he was alive and I was like
man, had I known that, I wouldhave just asked him tons of
questions and there was probablysome stories there that could
have been told and I was like,oh, what a missed opportunity.
(07:25):
So I really like I aspire tonot have people as opportunities
.
Yeah.
Jerry (07:32):
I know one of your posts.
I was reading it and saying,talking about, every first
responder should write a book,and I did this.
Steven (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Like we all have stories, weall you know, like if you spent
any amount of time as a firstresponder, like you're going to
have some, you know.
Like my first, my first EMS EMTstory is creating a story like
some you don't see every day.
You know and like like that's astory in and of itself and so
(08:01):
there's all these.
Like every time you go andshift, you know there's, there's
a new story.
Jerry (08:08):
Whether it's true or not, there is a new story.
Steven (08:14):
That's very true.
Jerry (08:17):
Right, Just the culture of the first responder world.
And you know, tell one person,tell another person, tell
another person right.
And then that's a whole form ofa different version of story
telling than we're talking abouthere, but still it's.
It's telling a story.
Steven (08:34):
You know I have this, I have this hidden like desire to
make like a chicken soup of thesoul type of book in with both
military and first responders.
Like there's, you know, and andI've gone back and forth, you
know whether that's like is thata book that that is for first
responders by first responders,or is it a book by first
(08:57):
responders for everyone else tokind of, you know, learn a
little bit and get a glimpseinto the life of what it, what
it takes?
You know there's, becausethere's so, there's so much that
goes into jobs, right, and whenwe're on, when we're on shift,
we're running a call, whateverit is like like there's so much
(09:20):
that goes into that and it's soit can easily be what it.
It.
I mean, I feel like every callthat's on story and in some way
shape or some fashion it is, butthen there's there's a bigger
piece of it.
That is that just, I think itexpands from where, from where
(09:41):
we start, and those kind ofstories need to be told.
Jerry (09:45):
Yeah, I mean, and to kind of go back a little bit, like
the reason I think it feels sogood is sometimes I tell those
stories is like, say, just toget it out of your system, kind
of like the journaling, and justto like there's just something
about putting something down to,you know, to paper and for
typing something out.
That is just I feel is verygood for you.
Steven (10:06):
Yeah, it's, you know it's different than than like
sitting in a, you know, acrossthe room from a therapist and
you have something like so howdoes that feel when the girl
fell down the well and youcouldn't get her out with a fish
hook and you had to like breakyour arm, like it felt like crap
.
But like if you're, if you'retelling us, or like then, like
(10:27):
those emotions come up andyou're not, you're not, you're
not telling it because you, like, you have to.
And I feel like when you, whenyou, when you sit down with a
counselor or a therapist, evenif it's on your own accord, like
there's, there's an element ofI have to say this where, when
you write it out, you get tocome from a completely different
(10:48):
mindset and so your thoughtprocess about the situation
isn't your part of let down,your, your memory almost begins
to come back a little bit morebecause you're, it becomes more
visceral and you're, and you canfeel that, especially if it's
like, if you're, if you'rewriting a story about a like, a
like a tragic call or somethinglike, like, like you can go back
(11:10):
, like I.
I can go back and physicallyfeel the emotions I felt when
I've had some of my more tragiccalls that I've dealt with.
Jerry (11:19):
Yeah, yeah, like there's just an element of reliving
those stories that I thinkpeople want to forget.
Do you find that, like theydon't really like block them out
or don't?
Steven (11:40):
For me I almost feel like it's it's it's misplaced.
I don't say misplaced trauma,but I think I think it.
When we don't, when we don'tshare some of those things, I
feel like I almost feel like we,we keep it misplaced, so it's
it's still in our brains.
Is this is the trauma that Idealt with when I was a
(12:02):
paramedic or a you know, or afirefighter or a police officer,
like these are all the, it'sall the crap that I had to go
through, you know.
And then you go over here to acounselor and you're like, oh, I
got to talk about this stuffagain.
But then you're like, actually,like when I was going through
that, you know, you startwriting.
You're like, when I was goingthrough that event, like, wow,
like I remember I was, I cameinto that thing mad because I
(12:25):
was eating a cheeseburger and Icouldn't finish my cheeseburger
and it was the firstcheeseburger I had in a month
and it was, you know, a doublecheeseburger from from you know,
fat burger and that's.
And you're like, you know.
So.
So it, it almost allows for awider, broader look into into
(12:49):
what the story is.
So it almost, it almost takeson a different, a different
feeling and a different meaning.
So it's not so much reallypractical, it's more.
It's more just storytelling.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Jerry (13:09):
Yeah, I've been working on a book myself and I find it
oh man, it is not as easy as Ithought it would be.
I didn't think it was going tobe easy, but I guess I should
say it's a lot more difficultthan I thought it would be.
I don't consider myself a verywell you know writer.
(13:32):
Like I want to write things.
It takes me a very long time towrite things like just some of
my like learning disabilitiesand stuff like that just takes a
long time to like writesomething and it's almost
painful in a way, but it'stherapeutic in a way to like,
like you said, to get it outthere.
And you know, by doing that I'mstill working on myself.
(13:55):
I always just believe, likeconstantly want to work on
myself to be better, and themore I write, the better my
grammar gets, the more I can seelike, oh, that should be said
that way, you know.
And it starts to like to learn,try to get in that rhythm.
But how do you like, as a ghostwriter, get into, maybe, the
(14:17):
character of the person that'swriting?
Steven (14:21):
I've actually been called the Jim Carrey of ghost
writing.
Somebody called me that becausejust because that that's what I
do, like that it's a gift for me.
I feel like it's a gift of justbeing able to get inside
somebody's head and like andpull that out.
I think part of that is just,you know, the, the years I spent
(14:41):
, you know, rolling up on a call, like you know, like you roll
up on an accident scene or anykind of incident, like you have
30 seconds, you know or less, tomake a judgment call on what's
going on.
And so I think I think,especially in as first
responders, like we get reallygood at learning, learning
(15:04):
character, we get really good atat making judgment calls, not
in like a as an authoritativepower thing, but but as a as an,
as an instructive, intuitive,like this is what's going on
here, right, right, and I thinkyou know so, for me I have that,
(15:24):
and then I have an advanceddegree in, like in counseling,
psychology.
So because that's where I wasgoing to go and that's you know,
and that's you know, that's the.
Tell me how you feel.
Jerry (15:34):
Like.
Steven (15:36):
I'm done with that stuff .
So, but, but taking both ofthose really comes down to just
asking the right questions.
You know, the more questionsthat you ask, the easier it is
to figure out what needs to besaid right and so right.
So that's that.
I've kind of learned how to askthe right questions.
(15:58):
You know how many questions toask and sometimes there's a ton
of questions.
Sometimes there's not as manyquestions.
You know it's it's.
It's really cool because youknow, once you start asking the
questions and then then there's,there becomes a safe place to
answer and you can break downlike you know, how did, how did
(16:18):
you feel about that?
I felt bad.
It was like, you know, versusyeah, I felt really horrid, like
I felt inadequate to handlethis.
You know, but I learned, likeover time to not take it
personal or to realize that youknow I can do what I can do and
(16:38):
I'm not necessary I don'tnecessarily hold the complete
reins for the outcome.
You know, like if you show upon an accident scene, you've got
somebody is bleeding out, youknow there's and you're like I'm
going to do CPR and try to andtry to save them, like you can
only do so much if they've bledout five liters of blood, no
amount of CPR is going to, isgoing to bring that person back.
(17:00):
And so you're like you can't,you can't hold on to that.
And I think I think sometimeswe do, we try to hold on to much
more than we can.
And I think there's a greatcorrelation between telling
those stories, even if you tellit to, like, you know, to the
civilian person.
You know, I don't understand,you know accident scenes and it,
(17:21):
but you can, you can get inthere and you can be like, well,
I felt inadequate, like so, youknow, but then you pull over
here.
You're like how often do wefeel inadequate in our daily
life?
You know, how often doessometimes, as a mom, feel
inadequate about the meal thatshe's making for her family
because she's got to go groceryshopping and she only has so
much food, you know, and it'sraining and you know the
(17:43):
husband's got the car, so she,you know, like you know.
So there's that ability totransfer those emotions and I
think that's what one of thethings that books do really well
is help transfer those emotions.
I got I picked up my niche andbeing able to do that when, when
my wife and I were both in gradschool, she would have me, she
(18:04):
would have me edit her papers,and so, because I was already
that's, what I was already doingwas editing and copyrighting.
So it was easy for me Excuse meand it was one time she came
and she had a.
She was supposed to have a 10page paper to write and it was,
and she had written four pages.
I was like you need, you needmore pages.
(18:24):
She's like I'm done.
I'm like I'm like you can't.
I know this professor, you needto write 10 pages.
She's like I don't want to whatI wrote, I'm done.
She's like if you want to writemore, write it.
She was just editing it for me.
I'm like, I'm like I cannot letyou turn this in.
And so she's like well, if youwant, if you think it needs to
be 10 pages, then you writethose 10 pages.
(18:45):
And I was like challengeaccepted.
So I couldn't write it in mytone.
Yeah, because because she'sdifferent than you know what I
mean, she writes like she speaksand I write very academically
and very like, you know,professional and stuff, and she
just tells it like it is.
And so I had to get in thereand write it as if I were her,
(19:09):
so that it would flow, andthat's where I really learned
how to do.
That was just.
It was a little bit easier,obviously, because she's my wife
, but still like like there's itreally.
Like like, oh, this is kind ofcool.
And then I just took it on as achallenge to to to embody the
personality of the person thatI'm writing for and so to really
(19:30):
just kind of figure out whothey are and so so having a
psychology background likethat's like fun for me.
Jerry (19:37):
Yeah, it's.
It sounds like almost like justyour like playing a role in a
movie, right, like you're being,like you take on that character
, like you studied the, studythat character inside and out
and you're taking on that thatrole, instead of like acting it
out in a film but writing itdown in a book.
Steven (19:57):
That's exactly the conversation I had with someone
when I was sitting down with hera few years ago.
She's like I don't understandwhen to go through it.
She was like you get paid towrite a book but you don't get
your name anywhere on it.
She was like, really, you knowlike where the accolades come
from.
And I was like, well, I'm likelike I get my accolades because
(20:21):
they usually, you know, getnoted as the editor of the book,
so that that always makes mefeel good.
But I said I mean, holly,you're an actress Like you get
paid to learn a part, to investin that piece and play a role,
and then you're out and you'redone, you know, and you might
have a small role and you might,your name might be there or
might not be there, right, yeah,she's like well, that's true.
(20:44):
I'm like it's kind of like ghostwriting yeah, yeah, definitely.
Oh yeah.
Jerry (20:51):
And it probably does.
It take you some time to likeget into that role.
We'll call it role like youknow, like into that person's
character.
We'll call it that.
Steven (21:02):
Sometimes it does Not very often, though, because
there's, I think, just with withmy experience and the years of
experience that I have is it'sreally easy for me and I don't.
I don't typically pick up, Idon't get too many clients where
I don't or I can't relate to,and so that's that's the other.
The other nice caveat for me isis I can relate to a lot of of
(21:28):
of the elements that somebody'sbeen exposed to or or you know,
especially like in the EMS field, like it's I'm probably further
away from from, you know, froma police officer, just because I
haven't had that, thatexperience, but I've, I have, I
have enough exposure and talk toenough, you know, and and of
cops that like it would bepretty easy for me to jump into
(21:52):
a role and the things that Idon't know if they're related to
something that I do.
Like if it was a police officer, I would totally jump on that
versus.
You know, somebody saidno-transcript, I'm a rocket
scientist.
(22:12):
You know I'm not your guy.
You know you couldn't pay meenough to write an engineer's
book.
Jerry (22:22):
Staying in your own lane there, huh.
Steven (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, like I know what I'm good at and so that's
where I focus at, and so thathelps me better.
Jerry (22:35):
What advice would you have for somebody that's
listening that's like, well,maybe I do want to write a book,
like just maybe playing withthat thought.
Steven (22:47):
I would say start journaling, if you have it, if
you have ideas, just sit down,grab a spiral notebook and just
start journaling thoughts andnotes and ideas about your life
or about you know.
If you think, man, I have astory in me somewhere, just
start writing like what would Iwrite about?
(23:08):
Who would benefit?
What is my point, my purpose ofwriting?
When I meet with clients, Ialways give them like I have a
21 question initial likequestionnaire, which is like a
30,000 foot view of the book.
You know like, and it just kindof walks like, really like so,
(23:30):
from way up here, is this evensomething that sounds like it
would work?
And in most of the time it does.
And there's a lot of times toothat people will start that and
they'll be like actually, youknow what this story makes a
really good point for thisperson to know.
It's almost like self-discovery.
(23:51):
Yeah, I would imagine you knowas you start like, oh, I do have
stories, oh, I do have this andthis, or I have this and that
Like this would be.
Oh, you know what so great oflike this group of people knew
about this.
You know what I mean and it'sthere's so many facets of it.
(24:12):
Right, like you could write abook of stories to like the
first year cadets, right, yeah,you know, because they're so
green they have no idea what'scoming their way.
You know, they think they do,you know, and they walk around
like they probably think theyknow.
(24:35):
But, man, you know, your firstyear as a first responder you're
going to get rocked If you'redoing it, any, if you're in any
you know area that has, you know, legitimate decent, you know
calls and such you're going toget.
You know you're going to getexposed to stuff that's like and
(24:59):
you're going to be like, wow,you know, in a year in you're
going to be like, man, I didn'tknow what I thought I knew you
know and, and so sometimes youknow it's just, it's just good
to to get it out on paper.
That's really the that's,that's.
That's probably the best way tostart.
Or you can call me.
(25:19):
We can jump on a phone call andwalk you through it.
Jerry (25:23):
And then you'll write it down in the Florida right and
then I'll write it down for you.
Steven (25:27):
Yes, like actually to be specific, it's more.
It's more with than for.
Jerry (25:34):
Yeah.
Steven (25:35):
I, I, you know, because before, before I began, I used
to, ghostwriting was likesomebody would call you and be
like I need to book on horsesand and you would write a book
on horses and they would puttheir name on it.
You know, like that's what Ithought ghostwriting was, yeah,
and I think probably initiallythat was, there was, I'm sure
enough, enough of those kind ofof stories out there.
But but I, I, it's more.
(25:57):
For me it's more like coaching,almost yeah, and just like my,
my job, my job as a ghostwriter,is to pull your stories out of
your brain and put themcoherently on paper.
Jerry (26:11):
Yes, I'm finding out that is difficult to do.
It just for me.
For me it just doesn't come outsmoothly and I'm like am I
really remembering all thesefacts you know correctly?
And then I find that you got togo back in right, cause.
Once you start writing like ohyeah, like you said, you start
kind of remembering things.
(26:32):
You know that you, you may haveforgotten.
Steven (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, so it's, it's.
It's kind of cool.
I actually have a buddy whowrote a children's book and I
didn't know he he's a, he's a,he's a he.
And I was like you wrote a book, he goes, yeah, he goes.
One night I was just sittingdown right in my report and I
just came to be like I write alot.
(26:56):
It's like I have so muchinformation about things that
that people should know aboutthat.
You know, if I could, if Icould take half of my calls and
teach it to people wouldn't getin trouble, they wouldn't do it.
And so he decided to just takesome of his stories and flip
(27:17):
them and twist them and and anddumb them down into a book for
nine to 11 year olds.
Oh, that's really cool.
So anybody can do it.
Jerry (27:29):
What's your I mean, what's your favorite type of
writing to do?
Steven (27:39):
I like taking somebody's story and putting it to some
kind of business aspect orleadership aspect.
Anything that you can take likea story and make practical
applications with is really funto do.
For one, it's one of the easierthings for me to do.
(27:59):
It's fun to do.
But personally I learned somuch more about myself when I
write books for people as well.
If I get somebody who takestheir story and wants to
demonstrate a leadershipcharacteristic out of it, I'm
like, oh, I'm sure I could pullhalf of this stuff.
I feel like I get paid to learnjust as much as I get to do.
(28:28):
That, for me, is a lot of fun.
I love that because it'sfulfilling, it's soul-filled.
Jerry (28:39):
Yeah, I can understand that selfishly.
From doing the podcast foralmost six years now, just being
able to pick people's brainsabout different aspects, I get
to learn and share that with myaudience, which is amazing.
Steven (29:00):
Yeah, see, you probably have three or four different
books in you Just based off ofan podcast.
Jerry (29:09):
Yeah, if I could get them out there, it would be great.
Out of my head, free up somespace, right?
That's awesome, Stephen.
You do other types of writing,right?
You say you write articles andother things like that.
Steven (29:28):
Yeah, I do.
I still write blogs andarticles for people.
I'll do specialty one-offprojects that come up.
I like doing certain businessprojects.
I just did a proposal for a guywho does a podcast for him to
get corporate sponsorship in aspecific industry.
(29:50):
That was really fun to help himcraft proposals so that he can
pay for his podcast.
I'll do little e-books here andthere too.
I enjoy writing.
I fix my schedule so that I onlybring on one new bookwriting
(30:16):
client a month.
This is typically a three-monthprocess, which pushes it for a
lot of people.
I don't do the publishing.
I talk about niching and stuff.
Like I've realized I don't wantto deal with publishing.
I got people that I know.
If it's a bigger project,sometimes we'll collaborate that
(30:38):
way.
For me, my specialty isdelivering a written book ready
for you to go do it, and doingthat in a 90-day push just helps
keep me going.
I'm always writing a book.
Usually with that I've got thefirst month of—in any given
(31:03):
month I have the first month ofsomeone who's more like we're
breaking everything down andformatting the book.
Then I have another person whoI'm actually writing the book
for and then I have anotherperson that I'm doing editing
and final editing through.
That keeps me going.
It frees me up room and spaceto do other projects and to take
(31:24):
on little things that are fun.
I have a couple clients nowthat that's all I do is just
write four blogs a month for her.
She's happy, she's like I don'thave to do it.
I've been doing it for a coupleof years now.
She's like I love it.
Jerry (31:40):
Yeah, when you're an entrepreneur, though, you got to
find the things that you'regood at and stick to those, and
the ones that you're not good atyou got to look to someone else
to fill those gaps.
Steven (31:57):
Yeah, she's like it's so worth it.
I don't have to stress over it,I just look and go, wow, that's
really good.
Then I post it.
Jerry (32:05):
Do you do?
Let's say, someone's get intothe world of writing articles or
something like that formagazines and stuff that wants
to start getting their stuff outthere.
Do you help them, do you coachthem through how to write better
articles or how to write anarticle, or do?
Steven (32:22):
you do that type of stuff as well.
I have done some of that in thepast.
I don't market that piece a lot.
Maybe I should actually I have.
I enjoy that too.
There's tons of ways to levelup your writing and do it fairly
(32:44):
quickly and make you feel likeyou're actually learning
something without having to goto school to learn how to write.
Jerry (32:55):
Yeah, I couldn't even imagine going to school to learn
how to write, to be honest, atthis point in my life.
Steven (33:02):
I looked some years back .
I looked at taking a graduatecourse, going through a graduate
degree in fine arts, whichbasically is writing and talking
with people.
They're like, unless you wantto be like a script writer or a
novel writer, it's almost justworthless for you to do that.
(33:23):
They're like Stevie, you knowmore about writing than what
you're going to learn in thisclass.
I was like, oh okay, looking ateverything that would be talked
about, I'm like, yeah, I can dothis myself.
Yeah, it's cool.
(33:46):
I have a wife and I have a crapton of kids.
We've been homeschooling foryears.
I feel like I've been inundatedin teaching English for the
last 20 years.
Well, it sounds like they have agood instructor for them, a
good teacher there I've got twoof them that want to be writers,
(34:07):
so that's kind of like oh wow,that says something about being
a parent.
Maybe, or maybe I'm just reallycrazy, I don't know no.
Jerry (34:19):
They're intrigued to follow in your footsteps there,
yeah.
Steven (34:23):
That's awesome.
I have one that wants to be afirefighter and two other ones
that want to do.
One of them wants to be just awriter and the other one wants
to be a professional surfer, anda writer.
Jerry (34:41):
That sounds great.
I mean, it doesn't sound like abad gig.
It's not?
Not at all.
Steven (34:51):
If I knew how to surf, I would do that myself.
Jerry (34:56):
Stephen, how come people reach out to you if they're
looking to write a book or needsome help with their writing
skills?
Steven (35:06):
I mean the best way is.
I'm on social media platforms.
I'm on LinkedIn, facebook,instagram.
I spend most of my time onLinkedIn and I think a lot of
people in our profession do alittle bit of both, but I know
most of them.
I know a lot of them doLinkedIn as well.
(35:39):
I think I have a couple ofeBooks.
I know they've watched orlistened to this podcast and
then I'll send them out.
I'll send them out a little bookon questions you should ask a
ghost writer before you hirethem.
It really walks through why youwould have somebody ghost write
for you and there's also apiece in there about why they
(36:00):
should write their books.
And I have an eBookspecifically that's geared
towards veterans but it's reallyclose to EMS first responders
and so I'm kind of tweaking thatright now for you know, to be
more specific towards the EMSfield and the first responding
(36:25):
field.
So even if they put that inthere, as soon as that's done
which will probably be in thenext week, actually, by the time
the podcast drops and you'relistening to this that eBook
will be done.
So if you just put badge inthere, I'll shoot people out two
eBooks on why you should hire aghost writer or a question you
should ask a ghost writer andthen an eBook on why every EMS
(36:46):
person should write their story,and then the best space for
them to reach out to you, to getthose, is on LinkedIn.
Jerry (36:54):
Is that correct?
Steven (36:56):
I'd say LinkedIn, yeah, and if you're on LinkedIn, then
Facebook, because I'm there too.
So typically, typically, peoplehave one or the other, yeah,
yeah.
Jerry (37:08):
Depend what generation they're from Exactly Well.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast today and sharing
your knowledge about writing.
Hopefully, this conversationwill spark some people to tell
their stories, either in awritten format or maybe jump on
a podcast and tell their stories, because there's power in
(37:29):
stories, right, the differentperspectives that people have.
I think it's just valuable tobe told.
Steven (37:37):
Yes, 100% yeah, whether you write it or speak it, get
your story out there.
Jerry (37:41):
Yeah, yeah, well, thank you once again for being on
today.
Thanks for having me, jay.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Thanks again for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewthe show wherever you access
your podcast.
If you know someone that wouldbe great on the show, please get
ahold of our host, jerry DeanLund, through the Instagram
(38:02):
handles at Jerry Fire and Fuelor at Enduring the Badge podcast
, also by visiting the show'swebsite,
enduringthebadgepodcastcom foradditional methods of contact
and up-to-date informationregarding the show.
Remember, the views andopinions expressed during the
(38:25):
show solely represent those ofour hosts and the current
episode's guests.
Welcome to today's episode of Enduring the Badge
Podcast.
I'm host Jerry Dean Lund, andif you haven't already done so,
please take out your phone andhit that subscribe button.
I don't want you to miss anupcoming episode.
And hey, while your phone's out, please give us a rating and
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On whichever platform youlisten to this podcast on, such
as iTunes, apple Podcasts andSpotify, it helps this podcast
(00:22):
grow and the reason why, whenthis gets positive ratings and
reviews, those platforms likeApple Podcasts and Spotify show
this to other people that neverlistened to this podcast before,
and that allows our podcast togrow and make a more of an
impact on other people's lives.
So if you would do that, Iwould appreciate that from the
bottom of my heart.
My very special guest today isStephen Leapley.
How are you doing, stephen?
(00:43):
I'm good.
How are you doing, jerry?
Good, thank you, stephen.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience and just give a
little bit of background aboutwho you are?
Steven (00:51):
Sure I well, that would be too easy.
I don't like to talk aboutmyself.
I'm a little no, I was.
I originally from the Midwest,I grew up in the Midwest and
then joined the military, spent10 years in the Navy as a
corpsman and ended up in SanDiego where I met my wife and
(01:16):
never left, basically Once Ifound her, and the beautiful
weather it's a much betterweather out here than it is in
Chicago and I did 16 years pastmilitary as a paramedic.
And so I was paramedic andworked for the government, for a
couple of private ambulancecompanies out here, some
(01:38):
consulting businesses that I hadin the medical field, and then,
through a series of events,ended up falling into being a
ghost writer.
And in that journey of startingoff as a copywriter doing this
copywriting, and then thatjourney of kind of figuring out
where my niche was and where Iwanted to land, I kept landing
(01:58):
on like three different thingsand I'm like I got it.
You know that struggle betweenthe initially you can't serve
everybody.
If you try to serve everybody,you serve nobody, kind of thing.
And so in looking at that andjust I found a little sweet spot
of all three of my areas that Iwork with, which is in the
(02:21):
entrepreneurial world.
Being a former EMS field andthen military, specifically in
the medical field and military,I kind of fallen into like just
kind of grouped all three ofthose together.
So now my focus is reallyhelping military vets and EMS
professionals kind of just telltheir story and help get their
story out there.
Jerry (02:42):
Yeah, I mean, I believe everybody has a story.
You talked to a lot of peopleand they'll tell you they don't
have a story.
But I don't really believe that, because once you start digging
into their life, there's astory to be told.
What is it for you that like?
What does that excite you tolike help someone tell their
(03:02):
story?
Steven (03:05):
I think one is I love books.
I've been an avid reader for awhile, so I love reading books.
I love the whole storytellingprocess.
I think deep down inside I havea secret desire to be a
stand-up comedian, which isreally telling funny stories.
But I haven't got over my fearto stand up in front of a bunch
of people who might not laugh atmy jokes.
(03:27):
But there's just an element oflike.
I look back over my career inthe medical field and I mean, oh
my gosh, there's so manystories I could tell.
Some of them are professionalstories, different kind of
accidents you've seen andincidents you've been involved
(03:47):
with.
Some of them are funny stories.
Some of them are justinappropriate stories.
We all have stories and it allkind of like ties us in.
It's like there's only a fewindustries, ems field being one
of them.
For me that's fire, police,ambulances.
(04:08):
I group all that together theEMS field and the military.
Those are two groups of peoplethat if you work any time in,
it's like you become your ownfamily because you spend a lot
of time with them and they knowyou and you get to know them.
That trust builds up and youand I can work together for five
(04:29):
years and never see each otheragain for 20 years and pick
right up where we started off orwe left off at 20 years ago.
I think it says a lot about thetype of industry it is and it
says a lot about the caliber ofpeople who spend their careers
in that industry.
(04:51):
When we look back, I talk to alot of people and I've got as a
ghost writer.
I've done books for people whohave their story and they use it
for their business.
I'm currently right now helpinga doctor write her story and
now she's a doctor but she'salso like a transformational
wellness coach.
(05:11):
She kind of uses both of thoseHer story of overcoming her past
.
She's writing that to use thatinto her business.
I've had people who havewritten their stories and this
got me.
This is kind of where I reallyfell into.
It was helping a buddy of minewho's a prior SEAL, navy SEAL
(05:33):
and a fire medic tell his story.
He was like this has done morefor my PTSD than therapy ever
did.
That whole catharsism,catharticism, catharticness.
There we go, huh, better Iwrite, better than I speak.
That's why I write.
(05:56):
There's something that happenswhen we write our stories out.
If you're a journaler and youjournal, you feel better.
You might still be angry, butif you can journal out your
anger, you feel lighter.
When he said that to me, thatreally hit me like, yeah,
there's a place for telling ourstories.
I've had people who just wantto tell stories and I'm going to
(06:18):
guys write a story.
He wants to make 10 copies ofhis book and send it to his 10
grandkids.
That's all he wants to do, andso it's like just the legacy
that we leave behind isincredible.
And yeah, we can tell storiesand that's one of the beautiful
things about podcasts we have it, we put it up and you can go
(06:40):
back and you can see it and hearit.
And alongside of that, I thinkthere's also something really
tangible about having a book.
You're like this is like mygreat grandpa's story, because
once they're gone, I found out Iwas a military medic and I
found out after my grandfatherdied that he was an army medic
(07:04):
at D-Day and I never knew thatwhen he was alive and I was like
man, had I known that, I wouldhave just asked him tons of
questions and there was probablysome stories there that could
have been told and I was like,oh, what a missed opportunity.
(07:25):
So I really like I aspire tonot have people as opportunities
.
Yeah.
Jerry (07:32):
I know one of your posts.
I was reading it and saying,talking about, every first
responder should write a book,and I did this.
Steven (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Like we all have stories, weall you know, like if you spent
any amount of time as a firstresponder, like you're going to
have some, you know.
Like my first, my first EMS EMTstory is creating a story like
some you don't see every day.
You know and like like that's astory in and of itself and so
(08:01):
there's all these.
Like every time you go andshift, you know there's, there's
a new story.
Jerry (08:08):
Whether it's true or not, there is a new story.
Steven (08:14):
That's very true.
Jerry (08:17):
Right, Just the culture of the first responder world.
And you know, tell one person,tell another person, tell
another person right.
And then that's a whole form ofa different version of story
telling than we're talking abouthere, but still it's.
It's telling a story.
Steven (08:34):
You know I have this, I have this hidden like desire to
make like a chicken soup of thesoul type of book in with both
military and first responders.
Like there's, you know, and andI've gone back and forth, you
know whether that's like is thata book that that is for first
responders by first responders,or is it a book by first
(08:57):
responders for everyone else tokind of, you know, learn a
little bit and get a glimpseinto the life of what it, what
it takes?
You know there's, becausethere's so, there's so much that
goes into jobs, right, and whenwe're on, when we're on shift,
we're running a call, whateverit is like like there's so much
(09:20):
that goes into that and it's soit can easily be what it.
It.
I mean, I feel like every callthat's on story and in some way
shape or some fashion it is, butthen there's there's a bigger
piece of it.
That is that just, I think itexpands from where, from where
(09:41):
we start, and those kind ofstories need to be told.
Jerry (09:45):
Yeah, I mean, and to kind of go back a little bit, like
the reason I think it feels sogood is sometimes I tell those
stories is like, say, just toget it out of your system, kind
of like the journaling, and justto like there's just something
about putting something down to,you know, to paper and for
typing something out.
That is just I feel is verygood for you.
Steven (10:06):
Yeah, it's, you know it's different than than like
sitting in a, you know, acrossthe room from a therapist and
you have something like so howdoes that feel when the girl
fell down the well and youcouldn't get her out with a fish
hook and you had to like breakyour arm, like it felt like crap
.
But like if you're, if you'retelling us, or like then, like
(10:27):
those emotions come up andyou're not, you're not, you're
not telling it because you, like, you have to.
And I feel like when you, whenyou, when you sit down with a
counselor or a therapist, evenif it's on your own accord, like
there's, there's an element ofI have to say this where, when
you write it out, you get tocome from a completely different
(10:48):
mindset and so your thoughtprocess about the situation
isn't your part of let down,your, your memory almost begins
to come back a little bit morebecause you're, it becomes more
visceral and you're, and you canfeel that, especially if it's
like, if you're, if you'rewriting a story about a like, a
like a tragic call or somethinglike, like, like you can go back
(11:10):
, like I.
I can go back and physicallyfeel the emotions I felt when
I've had some of my more tragiccalls that I've dealt with.
Jerry (11:19):
Yeah, yeah, like there's just an element of reliving
those stories that I thinkpeople want to forget.
Do you find that, like theydon't really like block them out
or don't?
Steven (11:40):
For me I almost feel like it's it's it's misplaced.
I don't say misplaced trauma,but I think I think it.
When we don't, when we don'tshare some of those things, I
feel like I almost feel like we,we keep it misplaced, so it's
it's still in our brains.
Is this is the trauma that Idealt with when I was a
(12:02):
paramedic or a you know, or afirefighter or a police officer,
like these are all the, it'sall the crap that I had to go
through, you know.
And then you go over here to acounselor and you're like, oh, I
got to talk about this stuffagain.
But then you're like, actually,like when I was going through
that, you know, you startwriting.
You're like, when I was goingthrough that event, like, wow,
like I remember I was, I cameinto that thing mad because I
(12:25):
was eating a cheeseburger and Icouldn't finish my cheeseburger
and it was the firstcheeseburger I had in a month
and it was, you know, a doublecheeseburger from from you know,
fat burger and that's.
And you're like, you know.
So.
So it, it almost allows for awider, broader look into into
(12:49):
what the story is.
So it almost, it almost takeson a different, a different
feeling and a different meaning.
So it's not so much reallypractical, it's more.
It's more just storytelling.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Jerry (13:09):
Yeah, I've been working on a book myself and I find it
oh man, it is not as easy as Ithought it would be.
I didn't think it was going tobe easy, but I guess I should
say it's a lot more difficultthan I thought it would be.
I don't consider myself a verywell you know writer.
(13:32):
Like I want to write things.
It takes me a very long time towrite things like just some of
my like learning disabilitiesand stuff like that just takes a
long time to like writesomething and it's almost
painful in a way, but it'stherapeutic in a way to like,
like you said, to get it outthere.
And you know, by doing that I'mstill working on myself.
(13:55):
I always just believe, likeconstantly want to work on
myself to be better, and themore I write, the better my
grammar gets, the more I can seelike, oh, that should be said
that way, you know.
And it starts to like to learn,try to get in that rhythm.
But how do you like, as a ghostwriter, get into, maybe, the
(14:17):
character of the person that'swriting?
Steven (14:21):
I've actually been called the Jim Carrey of ghost
writing.
Somebody called me that becausejust because that that's what I
do, like that it's a gift for me.
I feel like it's a gift of justbeing able to get inside
somebody's head and like andpull that out.
I think part of that is just,you know, the, the years I spent
(14:41):
, you know, rolling up on a call, like you know, like you roll
up on an accident scene or anykind of incident, like you have
30 seconds, you know or less, tomake a judgment call on what's
going on.
And so I think I think,especially in as first
responders, like we get reallygood at learning, learning
(15:04):
character, we get really good atat making judgment calls, not
in like a as an authoritativepower thing, but but as a as an,
as an instructive, intuitive,like this is what's going on
here, right, right, and I thinkyou know so, for me I have that,
(15:24):
and then I have an advanceddegree in, like in counseling,
psychology.
So because that's where I wasgoing to go and that's you know,
and that's you know, that's the.
Tell me how you feel.
Jerry (15:34):
Like.
Steven (15:36):
I'm done with that stuff .
So, but, but taking both ofthose really comes down to just
asking the right questions.
You know, the more questionsthat you ask, the easier it is
to figure out what needs to besaid right and so right.
So that's that.
I've kind of learned how to askthe right questions.
(15:58):
You know how many questions toask and sometimes there's a ton
of questions.
Sometimes there's not as manyquestions.
You know it's it's.
It's really cool because youknow, once you start asking the
questions and then then there's,there becomes a safe place to
answer and you can break downlike you know, how did, how did
(16:18):
you feel about that?
I felt bad.
It was like, you know, versusyeah, I felt really horrid, like
I felt inadequate to handlethis.
You know, but I learned, likeover time to not take it
personal or to realize that youknow I can do what I can do and
(16:38):
I'm not necessary I don'tnecessarily hold the complete
reins for the outcome.
You know, like if you show upon an accident scene, you've got
somebody is bleeding out, youknow there's and you're like I'm
going to do CPR and try to andtry to save them, like you can
only do so much if they've bledout five liters of blood, no
amount of CPR is going to, isgoing to bring that person back.
(17:00):
And so you're like you can't,you can't hold on to that.
And I think I think sometimeswe do, we try to hold on to much
more than we can.
And I think there's a greatcorrelation between telling
those stories, even if you tellit to, like, you know, to the
civilian person.
You know, I don't understand,you know accident scenes and it,
(17:21):
but you can, you can get inthere and you can be like, well,
I felt inadequate, like so, youknow, but then you pull over
here.
You're like how often do wefeel inadequate in our daily
life?
You know, how often doessometimes, as a mom, feel
inadequate about the meal thatshe's making for her family
because she's got to go groceryshopping and she only has so
much food, you know, and it'sraining and you know the
(17:43):
husband's got the car, so she,you know, like you know.
So there's that ability totransfer those emotions and I
think that's what one of thethings that books do really well
is help transfer those emotions.
I got I picked up my niche andbeing able to do that when, when
my wife and I were both in gradschool, she would have me, she
(18:04):
would have me edit her papers,and so, because I was already
that's, what I was already doingwas editing and copyrighting.
So it was easy for me Excuse meand it was one time she came
and she had a.
She was supposed to have a 10page paper to write and it was,
and she had written four pages.
I was like you need, you needmore pages.
(18:24):
She's like I'm done.
I'm like I'm like you can't.
I know this professor, you needto write 10 pages.
She's like I don't want to whatI wrote, I'm done.
She's like if you want to writemore, write it.
She was just editing it for me.
I'm like, I'm like I cannot letyou turn this in.
And so she's like well, if youwant, if you think it needs to
be 10 pages, then you writethose 10 pages.
(18:45):
And I was like challengeaccepted.
So I couldn't write it in mytone.
Yeah, because because she'sdifferent than you know what I
mean, she writes like she speaksand I write very academically
and very like, you know,professional and stuff, and she
just tells it like it is.
And so I had to get in thereand write it as if I were her,
(19:09):
so that it would flow, andthat's where I really learned
how to do.
That was just.
It was a little bit easier,obviously, because she's my wife
, but still like like there's itreally.
Like like, oh, this is kind ofcool.
And then I just took it on as achallenge to to to embody the
personality of the person thatI'm writing for and so to really
(19:30):
just kind of figure out whothey are and so so having a
psychology background likethat's like fun for me.
Jerry (19:37):
Yeah, it's.
It sounds like almost like justyour like playing a role in a
movie, right, like you're being,like you take on that character
, like you studied the, studythat character inside and out
and you're taking on that thatrole, instead of like acting it
out in a film but writing itdown in a book.
Steven (19:57):
That's exactly the conversation I had with someone
when I was sitting down with hera few years ago.
She's like I don't understandwhen to go through it.
She was like you get paid towrite a book but you don't get
your name anywhere on it.
She was like, really, you knowlike where the accolades come
from.
And I was like, well, I'm likelike I get my accolades because
(20:21):
they usually, you know, getnoted as the editor of the book,
so that that always makes mefeel good.
But I said I mean, holly,you're an actress Like you get
paid to learn a part, to investin that piece and play a role,
and then you're out and you'redone, you know, and you might
have a small role and you might,your name might be there or
might not be there, right, yeah,she's like well, that's true.
(20:44):
I'm like it's kind of like ghostwriting yeah, yeah, definitely.
Oh yeah.
Jerry (20:51):
And it probably does.
It take you some time to likeget into that role.
We'll call it role like youknow, like into that person's
character.
We'll call it that.
Steven (21:02):
Sometimes it does Not very often, though, because
there's, I think, just with withmy experience and the years of
experience that I have is it'sreally easy for me and I don't.
I don't typically pick up, Idon't get too many clients where
I don't or I can't relate to,and so that's that's the other.
The other nice caveat for me isis I can relate to a lot of of
(21:28):
of the elements that somebody'sbeen exposed to or or you know,
especially like in the EMS field, like it's I'm probably further
away from from, you know, froma police officer, just because I
haven't had that, thatexperience, but I've, I have, I
have enough exposure and talk toenough, you know, and and of
cops that like it would bepretty easy for me to jump into
(21:52):
a role and the things that Idon't know if they're related to
something that I do.
Like if it was a police officer, I would totally jump on that
versus.
You know, somebody saidno-transcript, I'm a rocket
scientist.
(22:12):
You know I'm not your guy.
You know you couldn't pay meenough to write an engineer's
book.
Jerry (22:22):
Staying in your own lane there, huh.
Steven (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, like I know what I'm good at and so that's
where I focus at, and so thathelps me better.
Jerry (22:35):
What advice would you have for somebody that's
listening that's like, well,maybe I do want to write a book,
like just maybe playing withthat thought.
Steven (22:47):
I would say start journaling, if you have it, if
you have ideas, just sit down,grab a spiral notebook and just
start journaling thoughts andnotes and ideas about your life
or about you know.
If you think, man, I have astory in me somewhere, just
start writing like what would Iwrite about?
(23:08):
Who would benefit?
What is my point, my purpose ofwriting?
When I meet with clients, Ialways give them like I have a
21 question initial likequestionnaire, which is like a
30,000 foot view of the book.
You know like, and it just kindof walks like, really like so,
(23:30):
from way up here, is this evensomething that sounds like it
would work?
And in most of the time it does.
And there's a lot of times toothat people will start that and
they'll be like actually, youknow what this story makes a
really good point for thisperson to know.
It's almost like self-discovery.
(23:51):
Yeah, I would imagine you knowas you start like, oh, I do have
stories, oh, I do have this andthis, or I have this and that
Like this would be.
Oh, you know what so great oflike this group of people knew
about this.
You know what I mean and it'sthere's so many facets of it.
(24:12):
Right, like you could write abook of stories to like the
first year cadets, right, yeah,you know, because they're so
green they have no idea what'scoming their way.
You know, they think they do,you know, and they walk around
like they probably think theyknow.
(24:35):
But, man, you know, your firstyear as a first responder you're
going to get rocked If you'redoing it, any, if you're in any
you know area that has, you know, legitimate decent, you know
calls and such you're going toget.
You know you're going to getexposed to stuff that's like and
(24:59):
you're going to be like, wow,you know, in a year in you're
going to be like, man, I didn'tknow what I thought I knew you
know and, and so sometimes youknow it's just, it's just good
to to get it out on paper.
That's really the that's,that's.
That's probably the best way tostart.
Or you can call me.
(25:19):
We can jump on a phone call andwalk you through it.
Jerry (25:23):
And then you'll write it down in the Florida right and
then I'll write it down for you.
Steven (25:27):
Yes, like actually to be specific, it's more.
It's more with than for.
Jerry (25:34):
Yeah.
Steven (25:35):
I, I, you know, because before, before I began, I used
to, ghostwriting was likesomebody would call you and be
like I need to book on horsesand and you would write a book
on horses and they would puttheir name on it.
You know, like that's what Ithought ghostwriting was, yeah,
and I think probably initiallythat was, there was, I'm sure
enough, enough of those kind ofof stories out there.
But but I, I, it's more.
(25:57):
For me it's more like coaching,almost yeah, and just like my,
my job, my job as a ghostwriter,is to pull your stories out of
your brain and put themcoherently on paper.
Jerry (26:11):
Yes, I'm finding out that is difficult to do.
It just for me.
For me it just doesn't come outsmoothly and I'm like am I
really remembering all thesefacts you know correctly?
And then I find that you got togo back in right, cause.
Once you start writing like ohyeah, like you said, you start
kind of remembering things.
(26:32):
You know that you, you may haveforgotten.
Steven (26:35):
Yeah, yeah, so it's, it's.
It's kind of cool.
I actually have a buddy whowrote a children's book and I
didn't know he he's a, he's a,he's a he.
And I was like you wrote a book, he goes, yeah, he goes.
One night I was just sittingdown right in my report and I
just came to be like I write alot.
(26:56):
It's like I have so muchinformation about things that
that people should know aboutthat.
You know, if I could, if Icould take half of my calls and
teach it to people wouldn't getin trouble, they wouldn't do it.
And so he decided to just takesome of his stories and flip
(27:17):
them and twist them and and anddumb them down into a book for
nine to 11 year olds.
Oh, that's really cool.
So anybody can do it.
Jerry (27:29):
What's your I mean, what's your favorite type of
writing to do?
Steven (27:39):
I like taking somebody's story and putting it to some
kind of business aspect orleadership aspect.
Anything that you can take likea story and make practical
applications with is really funto do.
For one, it's one of the easierthings for me to do.
(27:59):
It's fun to do.
But personally I learned somuch more about myself when I
write books for people as well.
If I get somebody who takestheir story and wants to
demonstrate a leadershipcharacteristic out of it, I'm
like, oh, I'm sure I could pullhalf of this stuff.
I feel like I get paid to learnjust as much as I get to do.
(28:28):
That, for me, is a lot of fun.
I love that because it'sfulfilling, it's soul-filled.
Jerry (28:39):
Yeah, I can understand that selfishly.
From doing the podcast foralmost six years now, just being
able to pick people's brainsabout different aspects, I get
to learn and share that with myaudience, which is amazing.
Steven (29:00):
Yeah, see, you probably have three or four different
books in you Just based off ofan podcast.
Jerry (29:09):
Yeah, if I could get them out there, it would be great.
Out of my head, free up somespace, right?
That's awesome, Stephen.
You do other types of writing,right?
You say you write articles andother things like that.
Steven (29:28):
Yeah, I do.
I still write blogs andarticles for people.
I'll do specialty one-offprojects that come up.
I like doing certain businessprojects.
I just did a proposal for a guywho does a podcast for him to
get corporate sponsorship in aspecific industry.
(29:50):
That was really fun to help himcraft proposals so that he can
pay for his podcast.
I'll do little e-books here andthere too.
I enjoy writing.
I fix my schedule so that I onlybring on one new bookwriting
(30:16):
client a month.
This is typically a three-monthprocess, which pushes it for a
lot of people.
I don't do the publishing.
I talk about niching and stuff.
Like I've realized I don't wantto deal with publishing.
I got people that I know.
If it's a bigger project,sometimes we'll collaborate that
(30:38):
way.
For me, my specialty isdelivering a written book ready
for you to go do it, and doingthat in a 90-day push just helps
keep me going.
I'm always writing a book.
Usually with that I've got thefirst month of—in any given
(31:03):
month I have the first month ofsomeone who's more like we're
breaking everything down andformatting the book.
Then I have another person whoI'm actually writing the book
for and then I have anotherperson that I'm doing editing
and final editing through.
That keeps me going.
It frees me up room and spaceto do other projects and to take
(31:24):
on little things that are fun.
I have a couple clients nowthat that's all I do is just
write four blogs a month for her.
She's happy, she's like I don'thave to do it.
I've been doing it for a coupleof years now.
She's like I love it.
Jerry (31:40):
Yeah, when you're an entrepreneur, though, you got to
find the things that you'regood at and stick to those, and
the ones that you're not good atyou got to look to someone else
to fill those gaps.
Steven (31:57):
Yeah, she's like it's so worth it.
I don't have to stress over it,I just look and go, wow, that's
really good.
Then I post it.
Jerry (32:05):
Do you do?
Let's say, someone's get intothe world of writing articles or
something like that formagazines and stuff that wants
to start getting their stuff outthere.
Do you help them, do you coachthem through how to write better
articles or how to write anarticle, or do?
Steven (32:22):
you do that type of stuff as well.
I have done some of that in thepast.
I don't market that piece a lot.
Maybe I should actually I have.
I enjoy that too.
There's tons of ways to levelup your writing and do it fairly
(32:44):
quickly and make you feel likeyou're actually learning
something without having to goto school to learn how to write.
Jerry (32:55):
Yeah, I couldn't even imagine going to school to learn
how to write, to be honest, atthis point in my life.
Steven (33:02):
I looked some years back .
I looked at taking a graduatecourse, going through a graduate
degree in fine arts, whichbasically is writing and talking
with people.
They're like, unless you wantto be like a script writer or a
novel writer, it's almost justworthless for you to do that.
(33:23):
They're like Stevie, you knowmore about writing than what
you're going to learn in thisclass.
I was like, oh okay, looking ateverything that would be talked
about, I'm like, yeah, I can dothis myself.
Yeah, it's cool.
(33:46):
I have a wife and I have a crapton of kids.
We've been homeschooling foryears.
I feel like I've been inundatedin teaching English for the
last 20 years.
Well, it sounds like they have agood instructor for them, a
good teacher there I've got twoof them that want to be writers,
(34:07):
so that's kind of like oh wow,that says something about being
a parent.
Maybe, or maybe I'm just reallycrazy, I don't know no.
Jerry (34:19):
They're intrigued to follow in your footsteps there,
yeah.
Steven (34:23):
That's awesome.
I have one that wants to be afirefighter and two other ones
that want to do.
One of them wants to be just awriter and the other one wants
to be a professional surfer, anda writer.
Jerry (34:41):
That sounds great.
I mean, it doesn't sound like abad gig.
It's not?
Not at all.
Steven (34:51):
If I knew how to surf, I would do that myself.
Jerry (34:56):
Stephen, how come people reach out to you if they're
looking to write a book or needsome help with their writing
skills?
Steven (35:06):
I mean the best way is.
I'm on social media platforms.
I'm on LinkedIn, facebook,instagram.
I spend most of my time onLinkedIn and I think a lot of
people in our profession do alittle bit of both, but I know
most of them.
I know a lot of them doLinkedIn as well.
(35:39):
I think I have a couple ofeBooks.
I know they've watched orlistened to this podcast and
then I'll send them out.
I'll send them out a little bookon questions you should ask a
ghost writer before you hirethem.
It really walks through why youwould have somebody ghost write
for you and there's also apiece in there about why they
(36:00):
should write their books.
And I have an eBookspecifically that's geared
towards veterans but it's reallyclose to EMS first responders
and so I'm kind of tweaking thatright now for you know, to be
more specific towards the EMSfield and the first responding
(36:25):
field.
So even if they put that inthere, as soon as that's done
which will probably be in thenext week, actually, by the time
the podcast drops and you'relistening to this that eBook
will be done.
So if you just put badge inthere, I'll shoot people out two
eBooks on why you should hire aghost writer or a question you
should ask a ghost writer andthen an eBook on why every EMS
(36:46):
person should write their story,and then the best space for
them to reach out to you, to getthose, is on LinkedIn.
Jerry (36:54):
Is that correct?
Steven (36:56):
I'd say LinkedIn, yeah, and if you're on LinkedIn, then
Facebook, because I'm there too.
So typically, typically, peoplehave one or the other, yeah,
yeah.
Jerry (37:08):
Depend what generation they're from Exactly Well.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast today and sharing
your knowledge about writing.
Hopefully, this conversationwill spark some people to tell
their stories, either in awritten format or maybe jump on
a podcast and tell their stories, because there's power in
(37:29):
stories, right, the differentperspectives that people have.
I think it's just valuable tobe told.
Steven (37:37):
Yes, 100% yeah, whether you write it or speak it, get
your story out there.
Jerry (37:41):
Yeah, yeah, well, thank you once again for being on
today.
Thanks for having me, jay.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Thanks again for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewthe show wherever you access
your podcast.
If you know someone that wouldbe great on the show, please get
ahold of our host, jerry DeanLund, through the Instagram
(38:02):
handles at Jerry Fire and Fuelor at Enduring the Badge podcast
, also by visiting the show'swebsite,
enduringthebadgepodcastcom foradditional methods of contact
and up-to-date informationregarding the show.
Remember, the views andopinions expressed during the
(38:25):
show solely represent those ofour hosts and the current
episode's guests.
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