I’m pleased to say that I have my first coaching client! She and I met through the Laptop Lifestyle Academy, a forum for people who are building online blog businesses. I’m going to be coaching her through the process outlined in my book, starting with a single project – a crocheted shoe. Of course the point is not to get to a finished piece; it’s to understand and practice the Creative Cycle and the principles behind it. Once she has that down, she’ll be able to accelerate her own leap to mastery. It’s going well so far!
I’m looking for more coaching clients, both to build experience and to help understand others’ creative roadblocks so I can plan out my online class. So if you think you might be interested in help, either with overcoming specific creative roadblocks or with a more systematic approach, email me at tien@creatingcraft.com . I’m offering a free 20-minute consultation; if you feel you need more help afterwards, I’m making a special offer of $59/hr (for the first 10 hours), but only for the first five people to sign up. After that it will go up to my posted rate of $100/hr. More details here – or just email me, I don’t bite!
(Don’t be shy about getting a free consultation, by the way; I am very interested in hearing about what problems people might want to solve, and I promise I will not give you a “hard sell” at the end. For me, this is about understanding my audience, so I will get value out of a free consultation even if we don’t wind up working together.)
Meanwhile, today I got the awesomest rejection letter EVER, from a publicist I was trying to hire. Here’s what she had to say:
After really taking a close look at everything you have in place and your goals, we just don’t think <my agency> is the best fit for you and your book. This actually comes from a place of admiration and support. So many of the services we offer focus online. The truth of the matter is, you have already covered online marketing in your plans for the book. It’s so important to us when we take on any project that we feel we are filling a need and can provide a service that an author can’t do on their own.
To be honest, we were blown away (and incredibly impressed!) with the plans you have in place. You have an extremely well thought out plan and the contacts/network you need to execute on that.
It’s rare but what I heard from my team today was that you were all set and we actually don’t have additional services to offer. That’s a huge compliment from my pretty tough group.
While I hate to send an email letting an author know we can’t help ““ this is truly the best kind. You don’t need our help. You are really really doing well on your own!
Please do keep us posted. We think you have a great product on your hands and a great plan in place. We’ll be anxious to hear how everything goes!
The other publicist I approached said the exact same thing. I guess all the reading I’ve done about book marketing has paid off! (Of course, I still need to execute on the plan, but at least my to-do list is sound.)
Weaving is progressing very slowly right now, but I have been busy harvesting! Here are 5 gallons of muscat grapes, which Mike will hopefully transform into muscat wine:
I am just a wee bit terrified by this sight. You see, we have four young grape vines. This was the first year we got any grapes at all, and only from two of the four vines. On top of that, we lost probably about 2/3 of the crop to a fungal rot (and probably rats, birds, etc.). And despite all that, we still got a five gallon bucket full of grapes! This suggests that we will be buried under a landslide of grapes in a few years.
Not to mention the 23 fruit trees in the yard, the raspberry patch, the six blueberry bushes, and the partridge in the pear tree. (Just kidding on the last; we have five peach trees, three cherry, two avocado, two dwarf mulberry, an aprium (apricot/plum hybrid), a plum, two persimmons, a dwarf pomegranate, a Meyer lemon, a Key lime, a kaffir lime, a bergamot, an almond, and a kumquat bush, plus a giant passionflower vine – but no pear trees. I guess the partridge will have to perch somewhere else!)
And – since cat photos have been somewhat sparse recently – here is a picture of Fritz and Tigress. As you can see, one of them has a well-developed, elegant sense of feline dignity, and the other, um….doesn’t. 🙂
Congrats on your first coaching client!
I saw a copy of your book today , purchased by one of the Design Group ladies. Our three grape vines (Santa Teresa, very sour, but make good juice and jelly) are laden with grapes up here in Cheyenne, and if I have to sit up all night and shoo away the resident raccoon, that’s what I will do. Your garden makes me envious. Gardening in Cheyenne is challenging, to say the least, what with early frosts, late frosts, 60 mph winds, and gold ball sized hail…but we persevere. Would like to get a copy of your book. Do you sign the ones that are mailed out?
You will probably be inundated with requests for free consultations, and given the chaos my life is in just now, I won;t bother you with that. Let me know how I can get the book. Good luck with your venture…
Hi Phillippa,
Yes, I sign all the ones that are mailed out – and will add your name and an inscription if you ask. You can order one at http://www.creatingcraft.com/books/masteryourcraft/
And good luck with your garden! It sounds like you have a ton of challenges…way more than in this corner of sunny California!
Congrats on such a positive rejection letter. It sounds like your orchard may bury your house in fruit. We have 3 dwarf apples and two dwarf cherries (one sour one sweet). This was the first real year for cherries at our house. I didn’t know how fragile they are so I lost 2/3s of what we picked – I still froze 5 lb pitted and baked a pie.
Sounds like you may get buried in fruit as well! I hope you enjoy it. I’m terrified of the fruit landslide but also looking forward to having all that delicious fruit to eat!
Congratulations on your coaching job. You both will learn a lot from it.
Your garden sounds fabulous. When I was living in NM I had various fruit trees. I could let nothing go to waste, including the windfalls. Everything got processed into food for the winter if we didn’t eat it right away. I was exhausted by the time I had everything done. Also had a large vegetable garden. But it was worth it.
Rejection letters are another thing to learn from. These sound like nice ones…some you can file away and possibly use someday.
Glad Phillippa Lack liked your book. She was at Helen’s design Group yesterday where I shared your book. It took all 2 hours for the book to get back to me so I know the ladies were looking hard. Hopefully more orders.
Your positive outlook will keep you going.
Heh. I think at some point I’ll decide that my sanity is more important than letting nothing go to waste…fortunately around here the food banks will come harvest your fruit trees if you ask them to!
Just reaped seven pounds of grapes (Valiant) from one of our three vines. Not bad for Wyoming!~Made grape jam and jelly. Still have the other two vines to go..(Santa Teresa, patron saint of gardeners)..they are not quite ready.. Really looking forward to your book… made it will move me off this ‘stuck’ space!!