soooo.... i'm coming out of a 3 year-ish work transition - leaving sales consulting and Predictable Revenue (put a fork in me, I was done), to do... what? (if you didn’t see it, in Sept 2021 I posted “I looked away and lost myself”)
2021: first, i knew what I did not want to do. but had no idea what I wanted to do. I'd been heads down making money to support my family and team for so long, I'd lost myself. first step: get out of Predictable Revenue.
moving from sales consulting to more advisory work and boards of directors helped. as did getting more sleep (our youngest kids were sleeping through the night finally) and exercise.
2022-23: i had glimmers begin surfacing, and starting crystallizing around three things that energized me -- getting people together, especially in person and especially outdoors -- writing more books (both non-fiction and surprisingly - fiction?!) and -- partnering with people I like & trust. (like Thiago Muniz 🦄 and Matt A. Smith and Camila Farani among others!)
2024: now i'm getting excited about doing more around books, both writing my own and helping b2b founders/CEOs with theirs. my books have driven more than $50m in business revenue (so far), so lots of lessons learned there in both crafting books efficiently and getting around obstacles (hey, if I can write books while having 10 kids, anyone can) and making money around them.
the two lessons I'd share with anyone else struggling with work burnout, or know they need a career change: first - patience. this took me years, not months. there wasn't some 30 day plan / retreat / whatever to shortcut this (for me). second: to slow down, listen carefully to the ‘whispers’ and ‘glimmers’ in the back of my head that are so easy to brush right past… but can be vital clues to the next puzzle. there’s that phrase: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. yep.
reflecting back, it was my books that underpinned everything that fed my family, team and myself. writing a book allowed me to take my thoughts, put them on 'paper' (you know what i mean), and share them at scale.
i've thought about helping other people with their books for years, but it's now moved to the front over the past year, and i'm excited to do more!
i'm on a mission to help other founder / ceos to craft books that make them millions, helping them feed their own families, teams and selves.
interested? comment below and tell me what your book premise is or where you get stuck. i'll be sharing workarounds for them here, as well as a new program shortly.
every book I've done and am working on has required different systems to get them done efficiently at quality, but there's always a way, if you want to do it, no matter how overwhelmed you are.
rock on!
aaron
A lot of what you described really resonated with me. We chatted a bit on LinkedIn and I'm definitely interested in learning more. A few things that have jumped out to me (as I'm in the process of finishing my book now):
1. What 'not' to put in. As I've been thinking more and more about the subject area I keep coming up with more things that I could include... I've already found myself adding bits in, including a whole extra chapter. But I also know that it's a book , not an encyclopedia.
2. Strategies around editing - especially the bit where you are trying to check the flow of the book. Its easier to edit chapters in isolation. But trying to hold the whole book in your head is hard.