Laina Turner, Author
L.C. Turner, Author

Are You an Amateur or a Pro?

If you’ve never heard of an author by the name of Steven Pressfield you’re missing out and totally, need to go look him up. He’s a very prolific author who is probably best known for The Legend of Bagger Vance. I knew of him but really got to know him when I watch a Marie Forleo video that talked about him and his book Turning Pro (you can watch that video here…it’s awesome, she’s awesome).

Turning Pro was a game changer for me. It talks about the difference in being an amateur and a pro as an entrepreneur which in my case is as an author/blogger. It discusses how entrepreneurs can easily find excuses as to why they aren’t following their true passion by ‘hiding’ behind what’s safe (and I am paraphrasing here). Which I hate to admit I’ve done. It took me years before I could confidently say I was an author and blogger to that common question, “what do you do for a living?”

It can be so difficult to take that leap of faith in your abilities. I say that because when you have a job, presumably the person who hired you thought you would be good at it, or they wouldn’t have hired you. When you’re earning an income from your own hustle, it’s YOU who has to think you are good at something, and that is a lot harder to swallow.

Pressfield gives a ton of great advice, but there were a few things that really called out to me that I wanted to share with you all.

Are You an Amateur or a Pro?

A PRO shows up every day.

How many times have you pushed off sitting down to write because you didn’t feel “in the mood,” or something else came up and it was easy to ignore the work? You need to set boundaries for yourself and often your family. Working from home tends to make kids (and significant others) think that you have all this freedom, and you don’t. Well not if you actually want to get something done.

A PRO is committed over the long haul, and PRO endures adversity.

There are very few get rich quick and stay rich without hard work schemes in this world. Bring a writer is no exception. As with all businesses, there are ebbs and flows. Anyone who jumped on the ebook bandwagon in 2008/2009 knows that most authors had great sales that were relativity (compared to now) easy to get. As more people entered the market, it became more and more difficult to make the same money.

My book sales peaked in 2013 and then going into 2013 there was a lot of competition and I was struggling to figure out what marketing would work because the old marketing certainly wasn’t. I had a slow decline over 2013/2014 and then depressed and wanting to give up I didn’t put my best effort forward in 2015 until towards the end of the year when I realized I wanted to hold onto this career. I didn’t want to give it up so I needed to do something.

Slow and steady wins the race isn’t just a cliche. It’s true.

A PRO plays it as it lays.

Sometimes, as we all know, just showing up is half the battle. I think that almost every day at boot camp. Not every day is rainbows and marshmallows. Even when you love what you’re doing. We all have bad days, but the key is still punching that imaginary clock, sitting your butt down, and doing what you need to do.

I know what I want to do with my life and where I want to go. It’s just not always the easiest path and so figuring out how to show up everyday/all day for what I want is my ongoing goal. I don’t want to ever look back and say “if only.”

Be honest and ask yourself if you are giving 100% effort every day to your business, whatever that might be. If you’re not ( and I’m not there EVERYDAY either so don’t feel bad), think about what you can do to get closer to that goal because you’ve got what it takes to get there, we all do. It just sometimes takes a little push. One that as your friend I’d totally love to give you.

Sign up for the FREE author resources here at WWC. You’ll not only get to interact with some amazing people but get those gentle nudges you need to stay on track with your writing goals.

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