September 16, 2025 • 28 mins
Welcome to Spark & Ignite Your Marketing, the podcast where real conversations meet real strategies. I'm your host, Beverly Cornell, founder and fairy godmother of brand clarity at Wickedly Branded. With over 25 years of experience, I’ve helped hundreds of entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic, attract the right people, and build businesses that light them up.
In this episode of Spark & Ignite Your Marketing, I chat with Ally Machate, a publishing strategist and founder of The Writer’s Ally. With over 25 years of experience, Ally explains how writing the right book can enhance your credibility and attract ideal clients. We discuss the power of a book, the challenges of perfectionism and imposter syndrome, and how purposeful publishing can boost visibility and confidence. This conversation goes beyond marketing; it’s about finding your voice and using that clarity to elevate your brand.
Three Key Marketing Topics Discussed:
- Writing the Right Book for Business Growth: Not all books are created equal. Ally explains why aligning your book topic with your platform and expertise is crucial for credibility, client attraction, and authority-building.
- Overcoming Visibility Blocks and Imposter Syndrome: We explore the internal obstacles, like fear of judgment and perfectionism, that prevent entrepreneurs from writing and publishing. And share mindset tools and personal stories that highlight the freedom of hitting 'publish.'
- How a Book Can Reshape Your Brand and Offers: Writing a book doesn’t just serve your audience; it brings you brand clarity.
Follow Ally:
Ally Machate | LinkedIn
The Writer's Ally | Webinar
The Writer's Ally | Website
Dare to be Wickedly Branded
P.S. Take the first step (will only take you 3 minutes) to awaken your brand magic with our personalized Brand Clarity Quiz
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Beverly (00:00):
Did you know that writing a book can increase your
credibility by over 300%, butonly if it's the right book?
Too many entrepreneurs pourtheir hearts into pages that
never get results, while othersstay stuck in fear and
perfectionism never publishingit all.
But today's guest is changingall of that.
(00:21):
I'm your host, Beverly Cornell,founder and fairy godmother of
brand clarity.
Here at Wickedly Branded, wehave helped hundreds of
entrepreneurs who areoverwhelmed and overachieving
consultants, creatives, andcoaches awaken their brand magic
and boldly bring their marketingto life so that they feel more
confident and attract theirabsolute most favorite, and most
(00:41):
profitable clients.
And on this episode of The SparkIgnite Your Marketing podcast,
we're talking to Ally MachatePublishing strategist, author
services expert, and founder ofthe Writer's Ally Ali helps
nonfiction authors write,publish and sell high quality
books that fuel business growthattract ideal clients and Boost
(01:02):
Authority.
A former Simon and Schustereditor with 25 plus years of
industry experience who bringsclarity, honesty, and strategy
to a space that often feels veryoverwhelming and totally
opaque.Ally, welcome to theshow.
Ally (01:16):
Thanks so much for having me.
Beverly.
A pleasure to be here.
Beverly (01:19):
25 years of experience.
You were like, what, 15 when youstarted?
Ally (01:22):
Everybody says that I look pretty good for my age, but
yeah, I can't believe it's been25 years.
Beverly (01:26):
Yeah, I say the same thing.
I say 25 years and I'm like, whois that person?
So let's talk about your journeyto get to be an entrepreneur.
What led to starting yourbusiness and leaving that and
what did those early days looklike?
Ally (01:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
In the very beginning I had aninternship, worked for a small
regional publisher, and thenwhen I graduated I got that job
at Simon and Schuster, which ofcourse is well known for being
one of the big five publishersin New York.
And it was an incrediblelearning experience.
I got to acquire several books.
I got to study under some reallyexcellent editors.
But it was a really weird timein publishing.
(01:57):
So during the period that I wasthere, we went through the.com
bust.
Then we went through 9/ 11.
And like many industries in NewYork City, we saw a lot of
shrinkage.
So after that, we went through afew years of pretty serious
layoffs in my department.
Kept shrinking and shrinking.
And for that reason and lots ofother reasons, I just felt you
know what, this is aninteresting moment.
I'm gonna take advantage of thismoment right now.
(02:19):
I am going to leave the job, I'mgonna go to school full-time and
finish up a master's degree thatI had been chipping away at for
years.
And I thought I'll freelance.
I'll do some freelancing on theside, while I go to school and
while I finish this stuff.
And then when I'm done, I'llcome back to publishing and I'll
be in a different place and theindustry will be in a different
place and there'll be morepositions and opportunity.
(02:39):
And I had this very rosy pictureand.
When I left and I startedfreelancing, I realized how much
I loved freelancing.
And as much as I enjoyed beingat Simon Schuster and as great
as an experience, it was, thereis a lot that goes into
publishing a book that hasnothing to do with editing the
book.
And when you're freelancing youcan pick the parts you really
wanna work on.
And at that time I wasfreelancing as an editor.
(03:01):
I did some book doctoring, I didsome ghost writing.
And just really being able toget in there with my fingers
felt really good to me.
And about the same time a fewyears later, we started to see
print on demand and eBooks andself-publishing really started
to become a truly viable optionin a way that it never had been
before.
I really felt like I was in theright place at the right time
(03:21):
because there were all thesefolks out there taking advantage
of authors, people who had noindustry experience, who didn't
even really care about helpingpeople to publish a good book.
They just wanted to play offtheir egos and take their money
and say, oh yeah, sure, we'llgive you a publishing deal.
Right?
There are all these scammycompanies and.
I really saw an opportunity todo more of what I loved and
really help people at the sametime by giving them a resource
(03:44):
that they could trust and knowthat I could share my
experiences in publishing, Icould share with them what made
a great book.
I could work with them on theirbook.
Then fast forward a few yearsfrom there, I found myself
really booked ahead prettyregularly, especially with the
ghost writing projects.
It didn't leave as much time forediting in between.
And as I booked my projectsfurther and further out, started
to naturally lose some folks.
(04:05):
And I thought, people wanna workwith me.
They're coming because theytrust me.
How can I really leverage thatand help more people instead of
just losing this business?
'cause I'm too busy.
And I tried a few differentmodels, but the one I ended up
on is this kind of team-basedagency model.
And that's what the Writer'sAlly is today.
Beverly (04:23):
So when you first started the Writer's Ally, how
did you develop your brand andhow has it evolved over time?
Ally (04:29):
I say that my brand, especially in the beginning, was
very rooted in who I am, prettynatural.
I was a solopreneur shiftingover to building a business.
So I really tried to convey thesame kind of balance that I
think is true of myself, whichis that I'm very serious about
things that are important.
I'm serious about.
Getting good books into theworld.
I'm serious about giving goodadvice.
(04:51):
I'm serious about making surepeople have what they need and
are taking the best route forthem, whether that's with us or
somebody else.
But I'm also not a seriousperson.
I'm fun and I'm silly and I jokeand I swear a lot and, I do all
of these things.
I'm colorful.
So I wanted the brand to reflectthat.
I wanted people to know thatyes, it was serious.
Yes, you're gonna get qualitypro help, but also you are gonna
(05:13):
be in a warm, encouraging,supportive environment with fun
people who don't take themselvestoo seriously.
And I think for authors, that'sreally important because there
can be so much fear andinsecurity and all kinds of
emotional stuff going on whenyou publish a book.
And you need to be with a groupof people who not only can guide
you professionally, but also canmake you feel good about the
process.
Beverly (05:34):
So I wrote a book.
I wanted to write a book for avery long time, actually, I was
denying my writer inside of meand what I realized is I'm a
writer.
I write every single day.
I write for every single client.
I write for my own stuff.
That is my primary job.
Grammarly one time it told me Iwrote over a million words a
week.
Insane amount of writing.
And AI has helped with someideation and some other things,
but an insane amount of writingand just getting thoughts on
(05:56):
paper.
And here I was blogging all thetime, I was writing a lot and
someone said why didn't youwrite a book?
And I was like, oh no, that'shard.
There's too much to do.
I don't wanna do it.
And they dared me to write it inseven days.
And it was the most powerfulexercise for me, particularly
because I'm a recoveringperfectionist and I get in my
own way sometimes.
Sure.
My fear of will anybody like it?
(06:18):
Does it matter?
Am I contributing to noise or amI actually creating value?
My fear of who am I, who cares?
Like I'm just this person overhere doing this work.
Who cares?
And I just really said, am Iwriting to write for everyone
else?
Am I writing for myself?
What is the whole purpose ofthis?
And I just said, you know what?
I'm gonna get on my own way andI'm just gonna see what happens
in the seven days.
(06:38):
And I did it.
I actually published it onAmazon.
I got an audible reader for it,put it on Audible.
And my goal was not to becomethe number one bestselling New
York Times list writer.
That was never the goal.
The goal was just to write abook.
talk a little bit about that.
Why is it so scary?
Why is it so hard?
Why do we put so much feararound it?
(06:58):
Because it was liberating towrite this book, and it's not
perfect.
I'm doing a revised editionright now.
But it was liberating, itunlocked something in me about
visibility that I never, everexperienced before.
So talk about that process, howyou watch people do that, what
that process looks like and whyit's so freaking hard.
Ally (07:18):
Yeah.
You just went through a prettygood list of the most common
fears and the most common, notobjections exactly, but things
that new authors will often saythat hold them back.
Who cares what I have to say?
Do I have anything new to add?
I'm just repeating the same oldnonsense.
Who am I?
What am I even doing?
Do I even know enough?
(07:38):
All of those questions.
I think they're all really humanquestions.
There's that thing about beingpromoted to incompetency, right?
It's like the psychologicalthing where.
You can do something, you can dosomething, you can do something.
And because you're good at it,you get to a point where all of
a sudden you can't do something.
And ironically, that's where youstop.
So you always get stuck in theplace where you can't do
(07:58):
something.
And the whole way that we thinkabout these types of things
makes us so afraid of beingperceived as incompetent.
Imposter syndrome.
I've been doing this for 30years, but there's always
someone who knows more than me.
I am gonna get caught out.
If I'm too visible, then they'regonna know that I'm a fraud.
They're gonna know that I don'tactually know what the hell I'm
talking about, right?
(08:18):
And my whole business is gonnafall apart.
So I think it's something thateverybody experiences.
It's not just writers.
It's a very human reaction.
Imposter syndrome in particularis documented to be most common
among women.
Especially probably yourlistenership, right?
Intelligent, educated often,higher up in a business or an
entrepreneur of their ownbusiness.
These are the women that mostoften find themselves dealing
(08:41):
with imposter syndrome.
So I think that's a really bigpiece of it.
And if you think of it assomething we all deal with every
day on a very normal level, andthen you bring into that
picture, Hey, why don't you putall of your thoughts and ideas
about something you super, supercare about, put it on this page
in a way that you're never gonnabe able to change.
Let's launch it out into theworld with your name on it,
(09:01):
right?
Yeah.
That's not vulnerable at all.
Exactly.
It's a huge exercise invulnerability Stops a lot of
people.
Beverly (09:07):
It does.
And I think that's why I thinkit's so liberating is by doing
it, that scary thing isn't scaryanymore because I've already
done the scary thing.
Yeah.
And a lot of the entrepreneursthat I work with, they're,
badass women who are doingreally cool things and literally
changing the world.
But they have, I call'em theflying monkeys of doubt and
imposter syndrome andperfectionism, all things that I
have literally dealt withbecause I always thought that my
(09:29):
work should just speak foritself.
I never thought that I shouldhave to go out there and talk
about it and be visible and bean authority and all those
things.
And it takes courage to show uplike that and to possibly, be
contrarian to maybe otherthoughts and people to fight
back to what you say.
But I feel like if you're notgetting pushback, you're
(09:49):
probably not saying enough, likeyou should be saying some things
like that.
But yeah, it was such anexercise for me and it literally
changed the course of my pathand my business and everything
else, and how I show up, how Ihave my entrepreneurial clients
show up.
Again, it's not gonna win anykind of prizes.
I really don't even want to talkabout it.
(10:11):
But it was really done for me.
And it was really done in a waythat I just needed to do it.
And it still opened up someopportunities for me for sure.
Absolutely.
That I would never have hadwithout it.
Being called an author issomething very interesting.
When you're talking to people oryou're speaking in front of
people, there is a modicum ofrespect that's given to you
because of you've written abook, even if it was not the
(10:33):
best book you've ever written.
And what I just say to tellpeople that you can write a book
in seven days, I think thattells people what kind of person
I am.
Even though it's not the bestthey could be, I actually have
another book in the works that Ithink will be much better.
But I learned so much from thatprocess that I know this one's
much more personal, much morevulnerable, a journey that I
have taken.
(10:54):
It's business and personal.
There's so much in it that Ithink makes it so much more
human and real versus just verypractical, which the first book
was just very practical.
It's a process and it'sbeautiful and hard and
frustrating and all the thingsthat life is.
Ally (11:09):
I noticed that a lot of what you were saying had to do
with the things that happenedfor you as the process of
writing the book.
So we talk a lot about, I know Italk a lot about the benefits of
having a book out in the worldand the ways that business
owners can leverage, anonfiction book as part of their
business to unlock a lot ofopportunities.
But I don't think enough peopletalk about the value of just the
act of writing the book in thefirst place.
(11:32):
Everything from the emotionalaspect, like you were
mentioning.
When you have a really hugeblock and you finally do that
thing and the world doesn't fallapart and you don't have a line
of people at your door tellingyou what an idiot you are,'cause
that's, what you're afraid isgonna happen.
Yeah.
It really pushes your comfortzone in a very good way.
It helps you to see and buildresilience.
Oh yeah.
I did this really scary thing.
(11:53):
None of the terrible, horriblethings I envisioned happened.
Even if a couple trolls postsome bad reviews, right?
That's life that happens.
It's inevitable When you publisha book, somebody will hate it,
but most of the time what you'reafraid of doesn't actually
happen.
So that alone is valuable.
But I've even had clients haveexperiences where, for example,
I remember this woman who was avery popular workshop teacher.
(12:13):
She used to travel all over theworld and give these incredibly
intensive relationship workshopsfor women.
She did week long intensive, shedid weekend workup workshops,
and then she wrote this book andshe came into the process
thinking I'm gonna take myworkshops and put them into a
book form.
And as we worked through thebook together, she realized.
That there were so many thingsthat she could do in a book
(12:33):
because the format was differentand that she had different
amount of time with people thanshe could do sitting in a room
with people for a few hours aday.
And she actually ended upcompletely changing the workshop
itself, which she had beenteaching for over a decade.
She changed the whole thingafter writing the book because
the process of thinking throughher ideas and her exercises in
(12:54):
that different way, reallyshowed her how some places she
could go deeper, some places shecould refresh, and she came out
of it with a whole otherworkshop.
So it's so funny, just writingthe book itself does so much for
you.
Beverly (13:05):
What you're saying resonates so strongly, Allie,
because, I redid my entireservice offerings based on the
book.
Once I wrote the book and gotreally thoughtful about what
transformation we really offerhere at Wickedly branded, it
made me see my business up abovethe trees as opposed to in the
woods, in a way differently.
So really taking the time andbeing thoughtful about my own
(13:28):
brand and my own voice and whatwe do and what we offer.
It really was an exercise thatfundamentally changed how I show
up, but also how the businesstalks about itself.
And it was very powerful fromthat perspective.
The act of writing, was for me,far more powerful than the
actual publishing.
The publishing was the cherry onthe top.
(13:50):
But the act of it, and thepromise I made to myself and the
introspection and thoughtfulnessthat I spent was so powerful in
a real big mindset shift, for meand the business.
There are so many benefits toit, and I wanna talk about the
other benefits of actuallypublishing.
Talk a little bit of thatbecause I'm talking a lot about
mindset and confidence, but itcomes to relating to this
(14:11):
writing and being visible to theworld in ways you've never been
visible before.
And this whole season is aboutconfidence.
So what does confidence looklike to you, Ally, as a business
owner?
And was there ever a moment thatyou realized you were really
showing up with it?
Ally (14:27):
That's such a good question.
Confidence.
I will admit, absolutely that itis maybe not a daily struggle,
but a regular struggle, toremember, to be confident, to
remember all the things Igenuinely have to be confident
about.
So that goes back to, what wewere saying about imposter
syndrome.
I suffer from that, just so manyother people do.
Absolutely.
And, I'll put a post on socialmedia, or I'll write a blog post
(14:50):
for my audience.
I had been very active inwriting a blog in the early
years of my business, and I gotaway from it.
So since January I've beenwriting a new blog post every
month and a bunch of emails andposts, to go along with that.
And every time, Beverly, evennow, right?
I've been in this business 25plus years.
I get that little twinge whenyou push right before I send it,
right before I send it.
Oh, did I miss somethinghorrible?
(15:12):
I missed a really obvious point.
And someone's gonna comment onthis and they're gonna make a
fool of me on LinkedIn and I'mgonna look like an idiot and
people are gonna comment andtell me how dumb I am.
Right?
There's always that brief littlemoment.
Of course it doesn't happenbecause I know what I'm talking
about and I take the time toactually create good content.
But, it's still something that Istruggle with.
For me a lot of it comes down tovarious tools and techniques,
(15:34):
mindset.
Mindset is like any other musclein a way, in the body that you
really have to learn to exerciseit.
And I worked with a mindsetcoach for six months, a few
years ago that really helped meas well and helped me to see it
as a muscle, as something that Icould practice and strengthen.
I have little things you can'tsee on my desk here, but like
I've got a little desk sign.
This is everything isfigureoutable.
(15:56):
Marie Forleo's, famous thing.
It's right there in my face.
Anytime I'm feeling like there'sa problem I can't solve.
I'm feeling too overwhelmed.
I look at that, I remind myself,okay, right?
Everything is figureoutable.
I keep a little brag file.
I have a file on my desktop thatincludes some of my most ringing
endorsements and some of thekindest things that clients have
said.
(16:16):
So I can go back and say even ifI get one client who's upset and
they're mad about something, ormaybe we made a small mistake,
and I start spiraling out, I cango back to that and remind
myself, look, you're notperfect.
You're human.
Things happen.
You genuinely care.
You're gonna make it right.
And also look at all thesepeople whose lives you've
changed, who loved working withyou, who loved meeting you, who
credit you with, helping them toachieve a major dream and goal.
(16:39):
So there's these sort oftangible ways that we can remind
ourselves and your story ofwriting the book, I think is a
major example of buildingconfidence.
I know this is something I dovery deliberately.
On my birthday every year I lookaround and I think, is there
something I've been nervousabout doing or that I'm scared
to do that I can make myself doand push my boundaries just a
(17:02):
little bit more so that I havethat resilience and I have that
confidence of being able to say,Hey, remember when you were
crying terrified of that thing,and then you did that thing.
I went skydiving when I turned40.
And it was the same kind ofthing.
I was like, I've been through alot.
I'm going through a lot.
I'm terrified of doing this, butI'm gonna do it.
And I was up there in thatplane, Beverly, and I almost
(17:23):
started to cry because I waslike, oh no, I changed my mind.
I don't wanna do this.
I'm not gonna outta this plane.
No.
It's way too far.
Take me down.
I don't wanna do it.
And I rolled out of that planeand I was so scared most of the
way down, and then finally wasable to relax and enjoy it.
But anytime I get nervous, I cannow think to myself, what Are
you scared about?
Beverly (17:42):
I didn't jump on my airplanes.
My husband does that for aliving.
He's an active duty soldier, Idon't understand why soldiers
have to jump out of perfectlygood airplanes, but my husband
says they're not perfectly good.
But by proxy.
He's enough of that fear for me.
But there was one day, a fewyears ago when we first got
married, there was a spouse daywhere you could go and you could
like, put on the gear and youcould ride in some of the
(18:03):
different vehicles and allthings.
They dressed me up, they put onthe gear that I would if I was a
parachute.
And then they told me to go upthis 40 foot tower.
To jump out of it and it's afree fall.
It's not not like a zip line.
You fall, it's like a bungee butnot a bungee.
But it's kinda like that catchesyou and then you, it takes you
down.
But that's what they do to teachthe guys to jump out of the
airplanes.
(18:24):
I fought of a ski lift when Iwas 17, so you know, you realize
gravity is not your friend whenyou fall from a ski lift down to
the ground.
And just thankful that it wassoft powder and not hard when
you landed.
I have a real appreciation forheights now just because of that
experience.
So I get up there and I didn'tthink it was that tall'cause it
doesn't look that tall from downbelow.
And I got up there and I lookedout the door and I was like,
(18:45):
yeah, I'm good.
And I went to walk back down thestairs and my husband said to
me, you will regret not doingthis.
You have fire in your soul and Idon't know why you're giving up
on yourself.
And I was like, I can do this.
So I turned around, it took me alittle bit, but I jumped outta
the airplane and I'm so gladthat I had a supportive husband
who knew I'd be reallyfrustrated with myself if I
didn't do it, but that wasenough for me.
(19:07):
That was a real boundarypushing.
And you're right, confidence isbuilt.
And I've even talked about thison previous episodes and maybe
my listeners are even sick of mesaying this, but confidence also
comes from trusting yourselfbecause you've done all the
things in the past, right?
I've written the book, andwritten the blogs.
I've led a team, I've been incharge of a billion dollar
budget at one point in mycareer.
Why did I not trust myself?
(19:28):
I guess I made mistakes, but Ialways figured it out.
Like you always figure out thesolution and you learn and you
grow and you do it.
And the older I get, the more Itrust myself.
I just simply trust that whatwill be and that I care.
And that is half the battle.
And like you said you do thebest that you can do every day.
And progress over perfectionneeds to be part of it.
(19:49):
I use the analogy of the.
Cowardly Lion.
The cowardly Lion was alwayslooking for courage, right?
He was like, I need courage.
But all along the journey, hewas the one that was standing up
for his friends, he had allthese small moments of courage.
And he had it inside of him thewhole time.
He just had to realize and beshown that, and I know most of
our clients just need to beshown how magical they are and
what that looks like.
(20:10):
And that becomes so much thatbecomes the beacon for their
confidence.
And when you are fully sittingin your magic, people can tell
like they know, oh, she's onfire.
What is that all about?
I wanna know she's got pinkhair.
What is that all about?
All of a sudden becomes.
Part of who you are, and that islife changing.
So it's all these little momentsleading up to the book.
(20:32):
And then since the book, reallyhelped me be more visible and
show up differently.
But I always have that momentbefore you publish, you're like,
what am I doing?
And why is this the career Ichose?
Ally (20:42):
If I worked at Starbucks, nobody would have to know who
I'm, I wouldn't have to tellanybody what I think about
things.
And as it relates to the booktoo, you said something earlier
that reminded me.
A lot of people, I think whenthey think of courage and
confidence, it's the same thing.
They think it's something theyneed to get.
Like you just said it's notsomething you need to get in
some sense.
You almost have to pretend.
It's almost like the whole actas if, because you won't have
(21:05):
the confidence until you've donethe thing.
You're not going to get theconfidence if you're waiting for
the confidence and the couragebefore you do the thing.
You're never gonna do the thing.
You have to find a way to makeyourself do the thing.
Despite the fear, right?
There's that great quote aboutbravery, right?
Bravery isn't about beingunafraid, it's about being
afraid and having the courage todo it anyway.
Beverly (21:25):
Yes.
That's exactly it.
And confidence is one of thethings that we really help our
clients with.
It's this intangible thing, butit's so powerful.
It's the most powerful mindsetshift you could make and it's an
honor.
I'm sure you've seen this whenthe book publishes and does well
or whatever, and you see thatperson light up differently.
Yeah.
Because they've been sovalidated and affirmed in their
(21:48):
courage that it changes them insuch a beautiful level.
And we witness that all thetime, and it's such an honor to
be on that journey to see thatit really it makes.
It's contagious.
'cause it rubs off on us too,which is great.
So we talk about clarity.
And how clarity can help somuch.
And I imagine when you write abook and you have to have an
outline and you have to be clearand some of your messaging and
(22:08):
what the end goal is and howthat works.
How do you help your clients getclear on the purpose behind
their book?
I'm sure there's an evolutionthat happens'cause it happened
with me.
How does that work within theprocess for you?
Ally (22:20):
We've experimented with a few different things.
We've done some book coaching.
I do private consulting, so I domeet with authors periodically
usually there's somebody who'san expert, they have a business
in some area, and, they knowthey wanna write a book, their
business is ready for a book.
They know that the book is goingto help them grow their
business, but they have lots ofideas.
They're not sure exactly whereto go.
(22:41):
Those are my favorite people totalk to because then I can get
in there and I can help themunderstand why sometimes the
thing that you feel like youmost wanna write is actually not
the right book for you.
One of my last private bookcoaching clients a few years ago
came to me.
He was a very smart gentleman.
He'd been running hedge fundsfor a long time, and he was a
(23:01):
student of philosophy.
He was someone who was reallyinto philosophy and really into
how humans think and how we showup in the world.
And he felt that he had reallydrawn this connection between
people being honest withthemselves about themselves and
people being honest with eachother and how that's not
happening in the financialindustry.
(23:21):
And that if people were morehonest with themselves, they
could be better investors.
So he tried this whole emotionalthing, to his world.
But when he came to me, hewanted to write a book that was
entirely about, I think hisworking title was something
like, what if We just Told theTruth?
He wanted to write this veryphilosophical book about how we
are not honest with ourselvesand how when we're honest with
(23:42):
ourselves, we can accomplishmore and like all of this stuff.
But he had no platform in thatkind of world, no connections.
He wasn't really a self-helpguy, he was a financial guy.
So he wanted to write this book,and I believed in his message.
I was completely on board.
I was like, nobody's gonna buythis book.
You don't have any kind of aname, you don't have any kind of
credibility.
You're trying to write apsychological self-help book.
(24:04):
I said what if you write a bookabout investing?
The way you think investingshould be.
And you take all of these ideasyou have around mindset and
thinking, and you put them intothe book and you make it an
investing book from this pointof view that you have.
And you can have a wholechapter, just talking about
philosophy if you want, butthey'll come to you because you
(24:25):
have the background in investingadvice.
That's where your connectionsare.
That's where your platform andyour stories and all the
material you have comes fromthat world.
And he wrote that book and itwas, it's called Transparent
Investing.
And he was so happy with it.
He even told me afterwards, I'mgonna be telling this story
forever of how I came to youthinking I wanted to write this,
highfalutin philosophy book.
(24:45):
And you talked me into doing itthis way and I was really
grumbly about it at first, butI'm so glad I let you talk me
into it because this was theright book.
And he was able to reachthousands of people.
He was able to get on podcastsand get interviewed in
newspapers and really get thebook out there to people and be
a category bestseller becausehis platform was in alignment
with his message.
But we still found a way for himto say what he wanted to say and
(25:07):
it was life changing for him andfor us, like you said it's such
an incredible honor to be a partof that kind of journey.
Beverly (25:12):
It really is.
So how do you balance the beingstrategic and showing up, but
also protecting your energy andyour values?
We live in such a almostcontrived world in many ways.
And you need to show up and thisfeels a little icky to me'cause
I don't feel like I really geton board with this, but I feel
like society says you shouldconformed a certain set of
ideals and I call them theshould suitcase.
(25:33):
You should do all these things,but do you also need to protect
your energy and values as ahuman.
How do you balance thestrategic, intentional side and
being vulnerable, yet alsosaving a piece of you so it's
not all out there for the worldto see.
Like how do you do that?
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the Sparking Night,
your marketing episode.
(25:53):
How are you feeling?
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
see you next week.
Did you know that writing a book can increase your
credibility by over 300%, butonly if it's the right book?
Too many entrepreneurs pourtheir hearts into pages that
never get results, while othersstay stuck in fear and
perfectionism never publishingit all.
But today's guest is changingall of that.
(00:21):
I'm your host, Beverly Cornell,founder and fairy godmother of
brand clarity.
Here at Wickedly Branded, wehave helped hundreds of
entrepreneurs who areoverwhelmed and overachieving
consultants, creatives, andcoaches awaken their brand magic
and boldly bring their marketingto life so that they feel more
confident and attract theirabsolute most favorite, and most
(00:41):
profitable clients.
And on this episode of The SparkIgnite Your Marketing podcast,
we're talking to Ally MachatePublishing strategist, author
services expert, and founder ofthe Writer's Ally Ali helps
nonfiction authors write,publish and sell high quality
books that fuel business growthattract ideal clients and Boost
(01:02):
Authority.
A former Simon and Schustereditor with 25 plus years of
industry experience who bringsclarity, honesty, and strategy
to a space that often feels veryoverwhelming and totally
opaque.Ally, welcome to theshow.
Ally (01:16):
Thanks so much for having me.
Beverly.
A pleasure to be here.
Beverly (01:19):
25 years of experience.
You were like, what, 15 when youstarted?
Ally (01:22):
Everybody says that I look pretty good for my age, but
yeah, I can't believe it's been25 years.
Beverly (01:26):
Yeah, I say the same thing.
I say 25 years and I'm like, whois that person?
So let's talk about your journeyto get to be an entrepreneur.
What led to starting yourbusiness and leaving that and
what did those early days looklike?
Ally (01:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
In the very beginning I had aninternship, worked for a small
regional publisher, and thenwhen I graduated I got that job
at Simon and Schuster, which ofcourse is well known for being
one of the big five publishersin New York.
And it was an incrediblelearning experience.
I got to acquire several books.
I got to study under some reallyexcellent editors.
But it was a really weird timein publishing.
(01:57):
So during the period that I wasthere, we went through the.com
bust.
Then we went through 9/ 11.
And like many industries in NewYork City, we saw a lot of
shrinkage.
So after that, we went through afew years of pretty serious
layoffs in my department.
Kept shrinking and shrinking.
And for that reason and lots ofother reasons, I just felt you
know what, this is aninteresting moment.
I'm gonna take advantage of thismoment right now.
(02:19):
I am going to leave the job, I'mgonna go to school full-time and
finish up a master's degree thatI had been chipping away at for
years.
And I thought I'll freelance.
I'll do some freelancing on theside, while I go to school and
while I finish this stuff.
And then when I'm done, I'llcome back to publishing and I'll
be in a different place and theindustry will be in a different
place and there'll be morepositions and opportunity.
(02:39):
And I had this very rosy pictureand.
When I left and I startedfreelancing, I realized how much
I loved freelancing.
And as much as I enjoyed beingat Simon Schuster and as great
as an experience, it was, thereis a lot that goes into
publishing a book that hasnothing to do with editing the
book.
And when you're freelancing youcan pick the parts you really
wanna work on.
And at that time I wasfreelancing as an editor.
(03:01):
I did some book doctoring, I didsome ghost writing.
And just really being able toget in there with my fingers
felt really good to me.
And about the same time a fewyears later, we started to see
print on demand and eBooks andself-publishing really started
to become a truly viable optionin a way that it never had been
before.
I really felt like I was in theright place at the right time
(03:21):
because there were all thesefolks out there taking advantage
of authors, people who had noindustry experience, who didn't
even really care about helpingpeople to publish a good book.
They just wanted to play offtheir egos and take their money
and say, oh yeah, sure, we'llgive you a publishing deal.
Right?
There are all these scammycompanies and.
I really saw an opportunity todo more of what I loved and
really help people at the sametime by giving them a resource
(03:44):
that they could trust and knowthat I could share my
experiences in publishing, Icould share with them what made
a great book.
I could work with them on theirbook.
Then fast forward a few yearsfrom there, I found myself
really booked ahead prettyregularly, especially with the
ghost writing projects.
It didn't leave as much time forediting in between.
And as I booked my projectsfurther and further out, started
to naturally lose some folks.
(04:05):
And I thought, people wanna workwith me.
They're coming because theytrust me.
How can I really leverage thatand help more people instead of
just losing this business?
'cause I'm too busy.
And I tried a few differentmodels, but the one I ended up
on is this kind of team-basedagency model.
And that's what the Writer'sAlly is today.
Beverly (04:23):
So when you first started the Writer's Ally, how
did you develop your brand andhow has it evolved over time?
Ally (04:29):
I say that my brand, especially in the beginning, was
very rooted in who I am, prettynatural.
I was a solopreneur shiftingover to building a business.
So I really tried to convey thesame kind of balance that I
think is true of myself, whichis that I'm very serious about
things that are important.
I'm serious about.
Getting good books into theworld.
I'm serious about giving goodadvice.
(04:51):
I'm serious about making surepeople have what they need and
are taking the best route forthem, whether that's with us or
somebody else.
But I'm also not a seriousperson.
I'm fun and I'm silly and I jokeand I swear a lot and, I do all
of these things.
I'm colorful.
So I wanted the brand to reflectthat.
I wanted people to know thatyes, it was serious.
Yes, you're gonna get qualitypro help, but also you are gonna
(05:13):
be in a warm, encouraging,supportive environment with fun
people who don't take themselvestoo seriously.
And I think for authors, that'sreally important because there
can be so much fear andinsecurity and all kinds of
emotional stuff going on whenyou publish a book.
And you need to be with a groupof people who not only can guide
you professionally, but also canmake you feel good about the
process.
Beverly (05:34):
So I wrote a book.
I wanted to write a book for avery long time, actually, I was
denying my writer inside of meand what I realized is I'm a
writer.
I write every single day.
I write for every single client.
I write for my own stuff.
That is my primary job.
Grammarly one time it told me Iwrote over a million words a
week.
Insane amount of writing.
And AI has helped with someideation and some other things,
but an insane amount of writingand just getting thoughts on
(05:56):
paper.
And here I was blogging all thetime, I was writing a lot and
someone said why didn't youwrite a book?
And I was like, oh no, that'shard.
There's too much to do.
I don't wanna do it.
And they dared me to write it inseven days.
And it was the most powerfulexercise for me, particularly
because I'm a recoveringperfectionist and I get in my
own way sometimes.
Sure.
My fear of will anybody like it?
(06:18):
Does it matter?
Am I contributing to noise or amI actually creating value?
My fear of who am I, who cares?
Like I'm just this person overhere doing this work.
Who cares?
And I just really said, am Iwriting to write for everyone
else?
Am I writing for myself?
What is the whole purpose ofthis?
And I just said, you know what?
I'm gonna get on my own way andI'm just gonna see what happens
in the seven days.
(06:38):
And I did it.
I actually published it onAmazon.
I got an audible reader for it,put it on Audible.
And my goal was not to becomethe number one bestselling New
York Times list writer.
That was never the goal.
The goal was just to write abook.
talk a little bit about that.
Why is it so scary?
Why is it so hard?
Why do we put so much feararound it?
(06:58):
Because it was liberating towrite this book, and it's not
perfect.
I'm doing a revised editionright now.
But it was liberating, itunlocked something in me about
visibility that I never, everexperienced before.
So talk about that process, howyou watch people do that, what
that process looks like and whyit's so freaking hard.
Ally (07:18):
Yeah.
You just went through a prettygood list of the most common
fears and the most common, notobjections exactly, but things
that new authors will often saythat hold them back.
Who cares what I have to say?
Do I have anything new to add?
I'm just repeating the same oldnonsense.
Who am I?
What am I even doing?
Do I even know enough?
(07:38):
All of those questions.
I think they're all really humanquestions.
There's that thing about beingpromoted to incompetency, right?
It's like the psychologicalthing where.
You can do something, you can dosomething, you can do something.
And because you're good at it,you get to a point where all of
a sudden you can't do something.
And ironically, that's where youstop.
So you always get stuck in theplace where you can't do
(07:58):
something.
And the whole way that we thinkabout these types of things
makes us so afraid of beingperceived as incompetent.
Imposter syndrome.
I've been doing this for 30years, but there's always
someone who knows more than me.
I am gonna get caught out.
If I'm too visible, then they'regonna know that I'm a fraud.
They're gonna know that I don'tactually know what the hell I'm
talking about, right?
(08:18):
And my whole business is gonnafall apart.
So I think it's something thateverybody experiences.
It's not just writers.
It's a very human reaction.
Imposter syndrome in particularis documented to be most common
among women.
Especially probably yourlistenership, right?
Intelligent, educated often,higher up in a business or an
entrepreneur of their ownbusiness.
These are the women that mostoften find themselves dealing
(08:41):
with imposter syndrome.
So I think that's a really bigpiece of it.
And if you think of it assomething we all deal with every
day on a very normal level, andthen you bring into that
picture, Hey, why don't you putall of your thoughts and ideas
about something you super, supercare about, put it on this page
in a way that you're never gonnabe able to change.
Let's launch it out into theworld with your name on it,
(09:01):
right?
Yeah.
That's not vulnerable at all.
Exactly.
It's a huge exercise invulnerability Stops a lot of
people.
Beverly (09:07):
It does.
And I think that's why I thinkit's so liberating is by doing
it, that scary thing isn't scaryanymore because I've already
done the scary thing.
Yeah.
And a lot of the entrepreneursthat I work with, they're,
badass women who are doingreally cool things and literally
changing the world.
But they have, I call'em theflying monkeys of doubt and
imposter syndrome andperfectionism, all things that I
have literally dealt withbecause I always thought that my
(09:29):
work should just speak foritself.
I never thought that I shouldhave to go out there and talk
about it and be visible and bean authority and all those
things.
And it takes courage to show uplike that and to possibly, be
contrarian to maybe otherthoughts and people to fight
back to what you say.
But I feel like if you're notgetting pushback, you're
(09:49):
probably not saying enough, likeyou should be saying some things
like that.
But yeah, it was such anexercise for me and it literally
changed the course of my pathand my business and everything
else, and how I show up, how Ihave my entrepreneurial clients
show up.
Again, it's not gonna win anykind of prizes.
I really don't even want to talkabout it.
(10:11):
But it was really done for me.
And it was really done in a waythat I just needed to do it.
And it still opened up someopportunities for me for sure.
Absolutely.
That I would never have hadwithout it.
Being called an author issomething very interesting.
When you're talking to people oryou're speaking in front of
people, there is a modicum ofrespect that's given to you
because of you've written abook, even if it was not the
(10:33):
best book you've ever written.
And what I just say to tellpeople that you can write a book
in seven days, I think thattells people what kind of person
I am.
Even though it's not the bestthey could be, I actually have
another book in the works that Ithink will be much better.
But I learned so much from thatprocess that I know this one's
much more personal, much morevulnerable, a journey that I
have taken.
(10:54):
It's business and personal.
There's so much in it that Ithink makes it so much more
human and real versus just verypractical, which the first book
was just very practical.
It's a process and it'sbeautiful and hard and
frustrating and all the thingsthat life is.
Ally (11:09):
I noticed that a lot of what you were saying had to do
with the things that happenedfor you as the process of
writing the book.
So we talk a lot about, I know Italk a lot about the benefits of
having a book out in the worldand the ways that business
owners can leverage, anonfiction book as part of their
business to unlock a lot ofopportunities.
But I don't think enough peopletalk about the value of just the
act of writing the book in thefirst place.
(11:32):
Everything from the emotionalaspect, like you were
mentioning.
When you have a really hugeblock and you finally do that
thing and the world doesn't fallapart and you don't have a line
of people at your door tellingyou what an idiot you are,'cause
that's, what you're afraid isgonna happen.
Yeah.
It really pushes your comfortzone in a very good way.
It helps you to see and buildresilience.
Oh yeah.
I did this really scary thing.
(11:53):
None of the terrible, horriblethings I envisioned happened.
Even if a couple trolls postsome bad reviews, right?
That's life that happens.
It's inevitable When you publisha book, somebody will hate it,
but most of the time what you'reafraid of doesn't actually
happen.
So that alone is valuable.
But I've even had clients haveexperiences where, for example,
I remember this woman who was avery popular workshop teacher.
(12:13):
She used to travel all over theworld and give these incredibly
intensive relationship workshopsfor women.
She did week long intensive, shedid weekend workup workshops,
and then she wrote this book andshe came into the process
thinking I'm gonna take myworkshops and put them into a
book form.
And as we worked through thebook together, she realized.
That there were so many thingsthat she could do in a book
(12:33):
because the format was differentand that she had different
amount of time with people thanshe could do sitting in a room
with people for a few hours aday.
And she actually ended upcompletely changing the workshop
itself, which she had beenteaching for over a decade.
She changed the whole thingafter writing the book because
the process of thinking throughher ideas and her exercises in
(12:54):
that different way, reallyshowed her how some places she
could go deeper, some places shecould refresh, and she came out
of it with a whole otherworkshop.
So it's so funny, just writingthe book itself does so much for
you.
Beverly (13:05):
What you're saying resonates so strongly, Allie,
because, I redid my entireservice offerings based on the
book.
Once I wrote the book and gotreally thoughtful about what
transformation we really offerhere at Wickedly branded, it
made me see my business up abovethe trees as opposed to in the
woods, in a way differently.
So really taking the time andbeing thoughtful about my own
(13:28):
brand and my own voice and whatwe do and what we offer.
It really was an exercise thatfundamentally changed how I show
up, but also how the businesstalks about itself.
And it was very powerful fromthat perspective.
The act of writing, was for me,far more powerful than the
actual publishing.
The publishing was the cherry onthe top.
(13:50):
But the act of it, and thepromise I made to myself and the
introspection and thoughtfulnessthat I spent was so powerful in
a real big mindset shift, for meand the business.
There are so many benefits toit, and I wanna talk about the
other benefits of actuallypublishing.
Talk a little bit of thatbecause I'm talking a lot about
mindset and confidence, but itcomes to relating to this
(14:11):
writing and being visible to theworld in ways you've never been
visible before.
And this whole season is aboutconfidence.
So what does confidence looklike to you, Ally, as a business
owner?
And was there ever a moment thatyou realized you were really
showing up with it?
Ally (14:27):
That's such a good question.
Confidence.
I will admit, absolutely that itis maybe not a daily struggle,
but a regular struggle, toremember, to be confident, to
remember all the things Igenuinely have to be confident
about.
So that goes back to, what wewere saying about imposter
syndrome.
I suffer from that, just so manyother people do.
Absolutely.
And, I'll put a post on socialmedia, or I'll write a blog post
(14:50):
for my audience.
I had been very active inwriting a blog in the early
years of my business, and I gotaway from it.
So since January I've beenwriting a new blog post every
month and a bunch of emails andposts, to go along with that.
And every time, Beverly, evennow, right?
I've been in this business 25plus years.
I get that little twinge whenyou push right before I send it,
right before I send it.
Oh, did I miss somethinghorrible?
(15:12):
I missed a really obvious point.
And someone's gonna comment onthis and they're gonna make a
fool of me on LinkedIn and I'mgonna look like an idiot and
people are gonna comment andtell me how dumb I am.
Right?
There's always that brief littlemoment.
Of course it doesn't happenbecause I know what I'm talking
about and I take the time toactually create good content.
But, it's still something that Istruggle with.
For me a lot of it comes down tovarious tools and techniques,
(15:34):
mindset.
Mindset is like any other musclein a way, in the body that you
really have to learn to exerciseit.
And I worked with a mindsetcoach for six months, a few
years ago that really helped meas well and helped me to see it
as a muscle, as something that Icould practice and strengthen.
I have little things you can'tsee on my desk here, but like
I've got a little desk sign.
This is everything isfigureoutable.
(15:56):
Marie Forleo's, famous thing.
It's right there in my face.
Anytime I'm feeling like there'sa problem I can't solve.
I'm feeling too overwhelmed.
I look at that, I remind myself,okay, right?
Everything is figureoutable.
I keep a little brag file.
I have a file on my desktop thatincludes some of my most ringing
endorsements and some of thekindest things that clients have
said.
(16:16):
So I can go back and say even ifI get one client who's upset and
they're mad about something, ormaybe we made a small mistake,
and I start spiraling out, I cango back to that and remind
myself, look, you're notperfect.
You're human.
Things happen.
You genuinely care.
You're gonna make it right.
And also look at all thesepeople whose lives you've
changed, who loved working withyou, who loved meeting you, who
credit you with, helping them toachieve a major dream and goal.
(16:39):
So there's these sort oftangible ways that we can remind
ourselves and your story ofwriting the book, I think is a
major example of buildingconfidence.
I know this is something I dovery deliberately.
On my birthday every year I lookaround and I think, is there
something I've been nervousabout doing or that I'm scared
to do that I can make myself doand push my boundaries just a
(17:02):
little bit more so that I havethat resilience and I have that
confidence of being able to say,Hey, remember when you were
crying terrified of that thing,and then you did that thing.
I went skydiving when I turned40.
And it was the same kind ofthing.
I was like, I've been through alot.
I'm going through a lot.
I'm terrified of doing this, butI'm gonna do it.
And I was up there in thatplane, Beverly, and I almost
(17:23):
started to cry because I waslike, oh no, I changed my mind.
I don't wanna do this.
I'm not gonna outta this plane.
No.
It's way too far.
Take me down.
I don't wanna do it.
And I rolled out of that planeand I was so scared most of the
way down, and then finally wasable to relax and enjoy it.
But anytime I get nervous, I cannow think to myself, what Are
you scared about?
Beverly (17:42):
I didn't jump on my airplanes.
My husband does that for aliving.
He's an active duty soldier, Idon't understand why soldiers
have to jump out of perfectlygood airplanes, but my husband
says they're not perfectly good.
But by proxy.
He's enough of that fear for me.
But there was one day, a fewyears ago when we first got
married, there was a spouse daywhere you could go and you could
like, put on the gear and youcould ride in some of the
(18:03):
different vehicles and allthings.
They dressed me up, they put onthe gear that I would if I was a
parachute.
And then they told me to go upthis 40 foot tower.
To jump out of it and it's afree fall.
It's not not like a zip line.
You fall, it's like a bungee butnot a bungee.
But it's kinda like that catchesyou and then you, it takes you
down.
But that's what they do to teachthe guys to jump out of the
airplanes.
(18:24):
I fought of a ski lift when Iwas 17, so you know, you realize
gravity is not your friend whenyou fall from a ski lift down to
the ground.
And just thankful that it wassoft powder and not hard when
you landed.
I have a real appreciation forheights now just because of that
experience.
So I get up there and I didn'tthink it was that tall'cause it
doesn't look that tall from downbelow.
And I got up there and I lookedout the door and I was like,
(18:45):
yeah, I'm good.
And I went to walk back down thestairs and my husband said to
me, you will regret not doingthis.
You have fire in your soul and Idon't know why you're giving up
on yourself.
And I was like, I can do this.
So I turned around, it took me alittle bit, but I jumped outta
the airplane and I'm so gladthat I had a supportive husband
who knew I'd be reallyfrustrated with myself if I
didn't do it, but that wasenough for me.
(19:07):
That was a real boundarypushing.
And you're right, confidence isbuilt.
And I've even talked about thison previous episodes and maybe
my listeners are even sick of mesaying this, but confidence also
comes from trusting yourselfbecause you've done all the
things in the past, right?
I've written the book, andwritten the blogs.
I've led a team, I've been incharge of a billion dollar
budget at one point in mycareer.
Why did I not trust myself?
(19:28):
I guess I made mistakes, but Ialways figured it out.
Like you always figure out thesolution and you learn and you
grow and you do it.
And the older I get, the more Itrust myself.
I just simply trust that whatwill be and that I care.
And that is half the battle.
And like you said you do thebest that you can do every day.
And progress over perfectionneeds to be part of it.
(19:49):
I use the analogy of the.
Cowardly Lion.
The cowardly Lion was alwayslooking for courage, right?
He was like, I need courage.
But all along the journey, hewas the one that was standing up
for his friends, he had allthese small moments of courage.
And he had it inside of him thewhole time.
He just had to realize and beshown that, and I know most of
our clients just need to beshown how magical they are and
what that looks like.
(20:10):
And that becomes so much thatbecomes the beacon for their
confidence.
And when you are fully sittingin your magic, people can tell
like they know, oh, she's onfire.
What is that all about?
I wanna know she's got pinkhair.
What is that all about?
All of a sudden becomes.
Part of who you are, and that islife changing.
So it's all these little momentsleading up to the book.
(20:32):
And then since the book, reallyhelped me be more visible and
show up differently.
But I always have that momentbefore you publish, you're like,
what am I doing?
And why is this the career Ichose?
Ally (20:42):
If I worked at Starbucks, nobody would have to know who
I'm, I wouldn't have to tellanybody what I think about
things.
And as it relates to the booktoo, you said something earlier
that reminded me.
A lot of people, I think whenthey think of courage and
confidence, it's the same thing.
They think it's something theyneed to get.
Like you just said it's notsomething you need to get in
some sense.
You almost have to pretend.
It's almost like the whole actas if, because you won't have
(21:05):
the confidence until you've donethe thing.
You're not going to get theconfidence if you're waiting for
the confidence and the couragebefore you do the thing.
You're never gonna do the thing.
You have to find a way to makeyourself do the thing.
Despite the fear, right?
There's that great quote aboutbravery, right?
Bravery isn't about beingunafraid, it's about being
afraid and having the courage todo it anyway.
Beverly (21:25):
Yes.
That's exactly it.
And confidence is one of thethings that we really help our
clients with.
It's this intangible thing, butit's so powerful.
It's the most powerful mindsetshift you could make and it's an
honor.
I'm sure you've seen this whenthe book publishes and does well
or whatever, and you see thatperson light up differently.
Yeah.
Because they've been sovalidated and affirmed in their
(21:48):
courage that it changes them insuch a beautiful level.
And we witness that all thetime, and it's such an honor to
be on that journey to see thatit really it makes.
It's contagious.
'cause it rubs off on us too,which is great.
So we talk about clarity.
And how clarity can help somuch.
And I imagine when you write abook and you have to have an
outline and you have to be clearand some of your messaging and
(22:08):
what the end goal is and howthat works.
How do you help your clients getclear on the purpose behind
their book?
I'm sure there's an evolutionthat happens'cause it happened
with me.
How does that work within theprocess for you?
Ally (22:20):
We've experimented with a few different things.
We've done some book coaching.
I do private consulting, so I domeet with authors periodically
usually there's somebody who'san expert, they have a business
in some area, and, they knowthey wanna write a book, their
business is ready for a book.
They know that the book is goingto help them grow their
business, but they have lots ofideas.
They're not sure exactly whereto go.
(22:41):
Those are my favorite people totalk to because then I can get
in there and I can help themunderstand why sometimes the
thing that you feel like youmost wanna write is actually not
the right book for you.
One of my last private bookcoaching clients a few years ago
came to me.
He was a very smart gentleman.
He'd been running hedge fundsfor a long time, and he was a
(23:01):
student of philosophy.
He was someone who was reallyinto philosophy and really into
how humans think and how we showup in the world.
And he felt that he had reallydrawn this connection between
people being honest withthemselves about themselves and
people being honest with eachother and how that's not
happening in the financialindustry.
(23:21):
And that if people were morehonest with themselves, they
could be better investors.
So he tried this whole emotionalthing, to his world.
But when he came to me, hewanted to write a book that was
entirely about, I think hisworking title was something
like, what if We just Told theTruth?
He wanted to write this veryphilosophical book about how we
are not honest with ourselvesand how when we're honest with
(23:42):
ourselves, we can accomplishmore and like all of this stuff.
But he had no platform in thatkind of world, no connections.
He wasn't really a self-helpguy, he was a financial guy.
So he wanted to write this book,and I believed in his message.
I was completely on board.
I was like, nobody's gonna buythis book.
You don't have any kind of aname, you don't have any kind of
credibility.
You're trying to write apsychological self-help book.
(24:04):
I said what if you write a bookabout investing?
The way you think investingshould be.
And you take all of these ideasyou have around mindset and
thinking, and you put them intothe book and you make it an
investing book from this pointof view that you have.
And you can have a wholechapter, just talking about
philosophy if you want, butthey'll come to you because you
(24:25):
have the background in investingadvice.
That's where your connectionsare.
That's where your platform andyour stories and all the
material you have comes fromthat world.
And he wrote that book and itwas, it's called Transparent
Investing.
And he was so happy with it.
He even told me afterwards, I'mgonna be telling this story
forever of how I came to youthinking I wanted to write this,
highfalutin philosophy book.
(24:45):
And you talked me into doing itthis way and I was really
grumbly about it at first, butI'm so glad I let you talk me
into it because this was theright book.
And he was able to reachthousands of people.
He was able to get on podcastsand get interviewed in
newspapers and really get thebook out there to people and be
a category bestseller becausehis platform was in alignment
with his message.
But we still found a way for himto say what he wanted to say and
(25:07):
it was life changing for him andfor us, like you said it's such
an incredible honor to be a partof that kind of journey.
Beverly (25:12):
It really is.
So how do you balance the beingstrategic and showing up, but
also protecting your energy andyour values?
We live in such a almostcontrived world in many ways.
And you need to show up and thisfeels a little icky to me'cause
I don't feel like I really geton board with this, but I feel
like society says you shouldconformed a certain set of
ideals and I call them theshould suitcase.
(25:33):
You should do all these things,but do you also need to protect
your energy and values as ahuman.
How do you balance thestrategic, intentional side and
being vulnerable, yet alsosaving a piece of you so it's
not all out there for the worldto see.
Like how do you do that?
Hey there, you've just finishedpart one of the Sparking Night,
your marketing episode.
(25:53):
How are you feeling?
Excited, inspired, but we'rejust getting started.
Next Thursday we're droppingpart two, and you won't wanna
miss it.
Be sure to subscribe to ournewsletter, so you'll be the
first to know when it goes live.
Until then, take a breather, letthose ideas simmer, and we'll
see you next week.
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