I don’t exist out of thin air.

I didn’t just pop up out of nowhere teaching this through Google and YouTube University.

I teach this because I’ve lived through it.

And, while much of what I discuss is well-known on the tail end of 2023, it wasn’t when I first started. Self-publishing has been around for ages, but Print-On-Demand was new, and no one was talking about it, let alone their journey.

I self-published my first book in 2010, and it was trash.

But I was 23 and unafraid.

There is something to be learned from young people.

The content was good, but the production was poor.

I knew nothing about editing, book cover art, or proper formatting.

Every mistake that could be made by self-publishing a book, I have made it and then some over the years.

But even though the book was far from perfect, I still sold copies. And even though I didn’t know what I was doing, my youthfulness had armed me with the boldness to put it out there anyway.

“Take the risk or lose the chance.”

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I remember being at my in-laws house in Memphis. My husband had told my nephew:

“You can do anything if you believe it. You can climb that wall if you wanted to.”

Do you know what this five-year-old did?

He proceeded to climb the walls.

The fact that he could fall had never crossed his mind. And if it did, he didn’t care.

As we age and experience the brutality that is sometimes this life, we become more afraid.

This causes us to overthink until fear paralyzes us into not taking action.

And now, we are afraid to move forward because we are afraid to fail. In many ways, this also means we are afraid to learn!

“The fear will become your weakness if you don’t overcome it.” – Yecheilyah

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I cannot say if I would have taken that leap of faith, the proof of what is not seen, had I known everything there was to know about book publishing. It would not have been perfect enough for me.

The most insightful lessons you will learn is through doing the work.

Don’t let overthinking paralyze you into not taking action.

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