#WINNING
#WINNING
Meg Calvin's Fusion of Creative Storytelling and Entrepreneurship
Embark on a transformative journey with Mackenzie Kilshaw and the enchanting Meg Calvin, as they weave tales of resilience and creativity in the face of life's unpredictable narratives. From Meg's Southern Belle charm to the poignant discovery of her biological father, we uncover how her past has shaped a future brimming with entrepreneurial gusto. Listening to her story, you'll find yourself rooted in the rich soil of community, spirituality, and the unyielding drive that powers the hearts of visionaries.
Step into the world of storytelling with authenticity, where your narrative can become the cornerstone of a thriving business venture. We navigate the landscape of business growth through the lens of literature, revealing how books and audio content can transcend mere words on a page to become powerful lead magnets. Meg and I also touch upon the delicate art of finding your voice, the pure joy of genuine expression, and the strategic deployment of creativity to captivate and inspire both readers and listeners alike.
Closing the chapter, wisdom flows as Meg Calvin joins the conversation, sprinkling her marketing mastery into the mix. Authors and entrepreneurs alike stand to gain a wealth of knowledge on how to market with pleasure and purpose. You'll leave this session equipped with the courage to lead with conviction, set boundaries that support your vision, and infuse your work with the integrity and joy that icons like Dolly Parton so effortlessly embody. Join us for an episode that is as much a masterclass in entrepreneurship as it is a celebration of the human spirit.
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Winning is your guide to making it in business. Join our award-winning host and entrepreneur, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and special guests in casual conversations that will educate and inspire you on your business journey. Winning will help you learn the hard lessons the easy way, with guidance from celebrated entrepreneurs and business leaders. It's fun, it's informative, it's winning.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Hello, welcome to Winning. I'm your host, Mackenzie Kilshaw, and today's guest is Meg Calvin. Hi, Meg
Meg Calvin:We're going to have so much fun today. Mackenzie, Thanks for having me on.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I know I'm excited to have you on. So a writing and marketing coach who gives memoirs and nonfiction writers everything they need to write, market and sell an Amazon bestselling book, which is really such a cool thing that you do. We'll chat about it. I actually was in an Amazon book that was a bestseller, but I didn't do the back work.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I didn't do the back work. But Meg also guides writers in getting the blocks about their identity, their time, their unique writing style, marketing their book, marketing their book to an audience. That's just like a few of the things you do. This is going to be a cool discussion, for sure. So, , thanks for being here, but why don't you tell the audience and the people listening a little bit more about yourself?
Meg Calvin:Yes, yes, I'm so excited to. I'll give the Cliff Notes version. A Southern Belle was raised in. I'm from Texas and there are three power for women that basically raised me. I call them the Holy Triad, the matriarchal triad, that they were my mom, my grandmother and my aunt, and, very fortunate, I also had a stepdad that raised me and a grandfather who were this, cheered me on, and so I say that to say I was never raised with the story or the narrative that I couldn't do anything a man could do. And so I began preaching when I was 13 with my missionary grandparents. They'd take me around to conferences and churches and mission trips and I would preach and I would sing, and that tapped into my writing ability that I already was aware I had and just fueled my love for it. My dad, my stepdad, who raised me, was in the military, so I was also. I was a Southern Belle that we moved to Germany. So I had that cultural experience from age four to 10, which was huge for me as an artist type, because I got to be in the Shakespeare club as a third grader, performed on the Hoffman Theater the Hoffman stage, which is where Mozart himself performed and was so thankful for that as the benefits of being an Army brat, and then moved back to Texas and had a wonderful experience back living close to my grandmother and aunt again middle school and high school. So from the age of 13 to 32, my dream was to. I felt my calling and at that point it was. I became a minister. So from age 17 to 32, I was on a church staff, paid minister, went to seminary and love studying curriculum writing and pastoral care and how the brain works in developing people on healthy volunteer teams.
Meg Calvin:And then I'm probably answering other questions at this time as I'm hopping around. I will say another big part of my origin story that I'll share is when I was 36. About two years ago I found my biological dad who I hadn't seen since I was three. There's a whole lot there that we won't go into. It was very healing. And then it was so beautiful because I discovered that my biological father is entrepreneurial as well, has had his own business, is in director of sales now, love sales and I also love the game of sales. So that's been neat to reconnect with him over the past two years and see the power of genetics and all of that. So that is. I think that's the most important parts of my story, my origin, if you will. Yeah, for sure, I think.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I love how you talk about your biological father there and him being an entrepreneur, because a lot of the guests that I have honestly almost all of them someone else in their family was an entrepreneur. So I don't know if we want to say that's genetic or if it's learned. I mean, in your case, I think it's genetic, right, you know, learn from him. But I think if you've got that entrepreneurial bug, as I always say you, have it right. And you're more inclined to do, to do entrepreneurial things.
Meg Calvin:Oh, yes, definitely.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:So you start out with your family and, obviously, being a preacher, that was very important to you. What made the change?
Meg Calvin:Yes, yes, I'm pausing I'm an extrovert who's pausing right now and gathering my thoughts. The change was I was drawn to the church as a child. I began, as you can tell, by being separated from my biological father. There was little tea, big tea, trauma. However, you want to capitalize that tea in my early childhood years, which we won't go into and the beautiful thing that came from that was I was, I believe, was drawn to the church. As a six year old, my mom got me singing in her secretary's gospel choir. So I was this little six year old white girl on a military base in Germany in this all black gospel choir of adults, and it was in that space, the six year old, that I did meet a God or whatever we want to call that source, universe, spirit. That truly healed me and I was obviously so thankful for that. And as I grew in the church, I also loved. I felt love through the applause of preaching and singing, the like most performers. The applause, that validation, was my love.
Meg Calvin:Well, when I was fast forwarding, fast forward to 2014. My I won't tell the whole story, but on a missionary retreat with my same missionary grandmother, and it was at that retreat that we the question was asked to me what was something? Well, after a very deep somatic healing experience, the question was asked what would I do if no one was there to applaud me and no one ever knew that I did it, but it would still bring me pleasure, enjoy. What would I do? And for me, it was. It was writing, and so I began, then started my first book at that point and that, like it does for lots of people, the first book opened up doors for me to begin speaking at conferences on the content of the book, and then it also opened the door for me to start coaching and at that point, I was coaching other ministers present from to prevent compassion, fatigue and burnout, and I loved it. I love the coaching container of asking deep questions and shining a light on very talented, compassionate people and pointing out blind spots and just helping them reach their potential and just just sitting with them. I loved that one-on-one space so much so when my I, I the timeline went really fast. Looking back now it's like, oh my gosh, that was a lot that happened. So in 2018, December, I left the church and, um, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. My second book came out at that same time and I knew I wanted. I forgot an important part by the time the second book had come out.
Meg Calvin:So many conversations were coming my way from other people that wanted to write very helpful healing books with Spiritual undertones, which is how I started. That's not my only clientele now, but then it was In around 2019. I had so many conversations from people that they were blocked by their own limiting beliefs around money and monetizing their gifts and marketing. They they had this belief that, like I did, that marketing was egotistical and slimy and manipulative, and they they didn't know how to trust themselves, which is huge. When you are starting a business or when you are for my clientele, when you are letting a book speak, come up, release, be released from you, it's a lot about trusting it and trusting yourself. And so I knew that I wanted to start my own business, where I was heartbroken by all of these helpful healing books that might never be live off of someone's computer unless they got a coach to guide them through it. So I had a.
Meg Calvin:I knew I needed a bridge, so I had a friend who had a business and I went to him and said I'm starting my own business. I just need, like two years could I do marketing for you, like? And so I was the Director of Engagement for his online business and for two years. And I started my business January of 2020 as a side hustle and then went full-time August of 2021 and and then have. When I first started it, it was just helping people write their memoirs or works of nonfiction, building their author brand and then submitting it to a traditional publishing company. I walked them through that and then, two years ago, I realized, oh wait, I could hire people under me and give others, give authors all the royalties, all the rights and make it more of a partnership, give them everything they need. And so, after working with traditional publishing companies myself as an author, I just brought in a team under me to do everything people needed in through self-publishing on Amazon.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:That's super cool, do you? Are you still writing? Are you still writing your own books?
Meg Calvin:Yes, I have. I'm starting my third book and so I'm four chapters in and I'm giving myself it's. It's a work of fiction, which I don't know that art. So I have a coach. I've had a business coach throughout this whole do since 2018, like most successful businesses, I have a business coach, and then I have a writing coach, as now for my to learn the art of fiction. And so, because my other two books were nonfiction and memoir, which is only just who I serve clientel right now, but I'm learning fiction, so I can serve people that way too.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, I love how you said to that you have a business coach, which all successful businesses have. This is not even on our topic, but I want to touch on it. Yes, because, yes, because I think it's so. It's so interesting to me now that I've had the podcast I, I do a little bit of coaching and mentoring on the side, I'll say as well, but it's so interesting because, if you look at our world, every successful team let's just say sports, for example has a coach. Yes, right, children have teachers or they go to. My husband owns a baseball training facility, so he coaches kids all the time on how to get better at baseball. And I feel like there's a stigma still for people that are like, oh, you have a business coach, you mustn't know what you're doing or you mustn't know right, how do you something you need? To me, it's just crazy, because why do you not want someone to coach you along the way that seen a lot more than you have, right?
Meg Calvin:because in your business.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You're in your own kind of bubble. You only see what's there. So, like breaking that stigma of a business coach has a negative thing and turning it into a positive, and I think someone like you thank you for saying what you said, because it's so true, right? Yes, everyone that's successful. It goes back to a lot of things and coaching is one of them, for sure.
Meg Calvin:Oh, my goodness, 100%. Yes, I was just on my coaching call today with my coach and I obviously love writing long form copy, which is which is epic on Facebook and it's built my business is built on organic social media marketing and he was reminding me and pushing me that I it would benefit me to go all in and do more, be more strategic with my reels, which I'm doing reels, but I'm leaning a lot. I lean more on my writing and so pushing me to times are changing. Can you, can you adjust your strat, your marketing strategy, to include more videos of yourself and make them inner, make them edgy, educational and entertaining? When I'm just like I'd rather write, can I just write 2200 words? It's like, yes, but get their attention with a reason. Anyway, yes, totally 100%. Coaching is where it's at. Having a coach, yes, and you would never.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You might do a reel here, reel there, but you never actually get into it without that kind of guidance from the business coach. Totally yeah. And and the thing too for you is, when you're coaching now creatives, other creatives and writers, you can now share that advice with them as well, yes, oh, definitely yes.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:The giving wheel just keeps on giving right. That's what I always say okay, let's talk about being a creative person, because I think a lot of people that are creatives don't think about turning that creativity into an actual business or making that their career right, like you. I know you said before that was kind of a side hassle for a while. Before you, you know, started coaching. So how can a creative person such as a writer and creative person can be lots of different things, not necessarily a writer, but let's talk writer specific how can they monetize their work or make it a business?
Meg Calvin:Yes, I will start by saying that the majority, actually all of my clients I've had the privilege of serving 46 in four years, which is so exciting. Wow, yeah, that's awesome.
Meg Calvin:A testament again to what you were saying hire, invest in a business coach. He gets a lot of credit for that, especially when it comes to scaling your business. Business coaches are huge, because I know other business owners that when it comes time to scale, it's scary and they burn out and they get overwhelmed and they quit. Their side hustle doesn't grow into a full-time gig, a full-time job. And for me, another proof to have a business coach for that reason, for scaling. Okay, so all of my clients they have made their, they make their money, they monetize their work through their book being a lead magnet, and so they are coaches themselves or they are business owners themselves. They want speaking opportunities, they want group coaching clients, they want one-on-one coaching clients, they want to plug up twice a year event that they fly people into, and the book is a lead magnet for that, and so those are the majority of my clients. So we intentionally we intentionally crafted it as such, as the book is a bridge into a deeper connection, a deeper partnership, a different service that that author offers, and so I will add I'll be more specific in one part though that even though it is a lead magnet, it is also, in a sense their life's work that they're working on, and so what I mean by that is it's a coach who's writing a memoir or it's a coach that is writing a non-transfer. It's there, they've taken all of the content from their evergreen courses. We put it in book form and then they're infusing that non-fiction book with lots of anecdotal, personal moments, and so I know now, in the world of AI, that it's really easy to have a book written that is a lead magnet that does convert to sales. But I love I love working with people that their book is going to be more than just a lead magnet although that's what it is. It's more than that, and okay. So if creativity is a business for someone they and their writers I would say the quickest way to monetize that would be to leverage their creativity by easily making $5,000 a month through email copywriting for another coach or another business owner that doesn't have the skill set of writing and I know lots of great fiction and non-fiction writers that also, along with their books, they write direct response copy for a company, and that is, that's just one client they can easily make 5k a month from.
Meg Calvin:If your creativity lies in audio. There are so many ways. We're on it right now. Podcasting comes to mind, and then also I've I offer audio book packages as well. Clients, we spend a six month or a year together birthing and releasing their book, and then they fly here to Kansas and we have studio time, we have a audio book retreat weekend, and most the authors I work with they want their own voice on the audio book. But I've had one that wanted different voices, so I got to pay people as narrators, as voiceover actors. So that's another way to leverage your creativity if your creativity is in your voice podcast, monetizing that or audio book work, and so there's so much opportunity for those who are creative to help others get their message out in the world that don't have, do not feel the pleasure in writing and don't have, don't have the bandwidth or capacity or the desire to learn how to write. Well when it comes to copyright, copywriting, yeah, that makes sense.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I mean, I know for myself. I said at the beginning and people that listen to the podcast know I was I wrote a chapter and I did not use AI to write it. I actually wrote it, but I'm not a writer. But I wrote a chapter in a collective book, so it was called Conversations Over Coffee and it was, I think there was like 20, some authors in it I should know the exact number but we're all entrepreneurs or business owners or in that, that kind of realm, right, and we all wrote our chapter about our journey or our life or triumph over a tragedy or whatever it happened to be.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:But I know, when I was approached and by the woman that put the book together, who was friend of mine, but I actually kind of laughed at her because I said I'm not a writer, I do not know how to write, what could I possibly write that would be interesting to people? And you know, and she really encouraged me in saying, like your story is interesting, even if you don't think it is, other people do or they want to hear about your story, and it really is a, for me, a lead magnet right to say, hey, check out my story in this book. But I didn't realize how much I would or how much I enjoyed it until.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I actually was doing it, you know it kind of for me. I said this was a great opportunity, but the enjoyment that I got from that actually I think was more self fulfilling than the actual opportunity of it being a lead magnet.
Shauna Foster:Yes, oh, that's so true.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Yeah, and I think there's probably lots of people like me that can come to you right and say, hey, I want to tell my story, or I want to talk about a topic or whatever it happens to be, that really in their head they might be thinking, oh, it's going to be good for my business, promote my business, but really there's, there's more to it than that, isn't there?
Meg Calvin:Oh, yes, yes, I hold the belief and it's been proven time and time again that if a book idea is speaking up to you, it's speaking up louder and louder for two reasons. One is to give you the joy and the pleasure and the breakthrough that it's going to. It's going to give you by writing it. Every client I've served when they write that deep place, we go within to listen to the book and write what it's telling us. That is the same deep place we go to trust ourselves, as I said earlier, to listen to our truest desires to heal layers of wounds that believe in us now that we're ready to heal certain things. And so we birth a book. We birth a breakthrough, like every client I've served is.
Meg Calvin:Either as soon as the book dropped and hit best seller on Amazon, they got out of that unhealthy marriage they'd been struggling with for eight years where there was abuse happening or something where it was divorce was best like, or they moved to France after thinking about it for seven years, or they changed jobs, or they committed today I make my side hustle, my full hustle or they had that sweaty palm conversation with the relative they've been putting off for decades. And it was because I believe we birth books. We birth breakthroughs. They give us the confidence that we've been seeking forever. And so those are sub points.
Meg Calvin:But the two reasons the book speaks up is to give us the pleasure and the breakthrough. It's time for us to evolve to up level in our life, and so that's why the book is speaking up. And the second reason is speaking up is because our ideal reader, our target audience, their need for to be served by our specific book, with our specific personality and our specific style, with our specific scars and our specific goals and our specific niche, they're hungry. They're getting our idea readers getting hungrier, like I wish someone with everything that would describe you would write this book, and then that's why the idea is getting louder. So when we trust it and we birth and release that book, it's, it's um, it's happening in just the right time, yeah, so yes, a lot is happening when we write books, yeah, are there ways to know what people want to know about?
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I mean, how do you, like you can have a a lot of things in your story you can tell, or that you want to tell, um, but how do you know that people are needing that?
Meg Calvin:Yes, that's a great question. There's a yes and no to this. What's coming up for me is I am obsessed with the comedy through Monty Python. Do you know them from the seventies? They did, of course you do. Of course you do. I met them in high school English class and I was in love. Um, I thought where have these guys been all my life? Well, thankfully I married someone who also is in love with them and loves that kind of comedy, and we watched so many documentaries.
Meg Calvin:On one documentary, John Cleese, a member of the troop, was interviewed and he said when BBC came to like, he said get it right, meg. He said our show Monty Python Flying Circus would not exist today if we were to do it today. And the interviewer was like oh, what do you mean? It was so great. And he said because today they are so obsessed with BBC. He was talking BBC. BBC is obsessed with the data and the trends. And what do millennials find funny? What do gen x find funny? And he said in the early seventies, when BBC came to Monty Python, they never asked those questions and the guys couldn't even describe what their book was going to be about, but they knew they needed to take what they were doing, what brought them joy as writers together, comedic writers and actors. They just knew what brought them joy and they wanted to share it and that was enough. And so I teach the writers I serve and I follow this in my own business too to be loosely aware of the trends. But if the trends are bringing you to an impasse where you're like gosh that does that, doesn't honor what wants to come through me as a writer, then ignore that trend and so honoring what wants to come through you matters most.
Meg Calvin:Another example is my second book was satirical but also self-help and theological and I shared about. I shared about purity, culture and the church and shame that comes we're from that can come from that and healing that within myself and loving my sexuality and loving my body and growing to love both those things as I age. And that chapter got the most amount of feedback. So many people the readers DM to me telling me their stories about shame and guilt around sex and body image. So I went to I was sitting in it with my business coach and I thought I know there's a part of me that thinks, whoa, my third book should be about sex and body, but I don't want to write. I don't want to write that book. So what's the lesson in this for me and what we, as we dissected it together and he asked all the great, all the great questions and listened to my way of being, which I strive to do myself as a coach what we came, what I came up with, was the lesson. There was that readers loved when I was vulnerable.
Meg Calvin:That's why that chapter hit home, and so can I take that vulnerability into my next book or my next workshop or whatever. So I would say first and foremost, instead of asking ourselves I love this question, by the way, I'm going to land the plane, I promise instead of asking, okay, what do, what does my ideal client want to read about, when there is a time for that, 100%, totally do a Google forum and when you're planning a workshop. But I feel the most, what's most important to look for is in your, in your area, your niche or your industry. What grinds your gears the most? What? Bill Highbull's, senior pastor, Willow Creek not anymore, though that's a long story. Anyway, he had this book in 04 that was called Holy Discontent and he said whatever area makes you the most angry in your life, like when you see other people messing it up or not, pay attention, listen to that, because the divine wants you to make a difference in that and know that that doesn't tick everyone off, like you might think.
Meg Calvin:Oh, everyone gets ticked off by the use of styrofoam cups. They sadly don't. For me, I get really ticked off. Even before I became a writing coach, it really ticked. My hand was shaking. That's how passionate I was.
Meg Calvin:I get really ticked off by the stat that our attention spans are getting shorter. Therefore, our nonfiction books need to be shorter they need to be on 20,000 to 30,000 words, which is usually less than 100 pages and that we need to lower the average, the age. The reading age that we write with Direct response copy is written at a third to fifth grade reading language, which is good for direct response copy on your website or email marketing, but not in your book. People are smart. They'll stick around for a long book if it's written well.
Meg Calvin:So the fact that that grinds my gears back in 2016, it wasn't no one else cared, but I was getting all fired up, so I would tell someone that if there's something that really an area of life that's just grinding their gears lately and they feel that they have the gifts, the experience to say something about it, to trust, and it's aligned with their target market although I hold that loosely too, because every entrepreneur is, we evolve, so you might have in every book of yours could be to a different target audience. So listening to that too, okay, I'm going to. I'll be quiet now.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:No, that was no. No, that was really good, because I think that's the that's the thing. As entrepreneurs, our brains are always coming up with the next idea or the next thing right, how do I get more revenue? Or how do I share this lesson, or how do I, whatever? It is right. And I think the thing now is we hear so much in marketing about your to be specific to your target market segments, which I fully agree with, but I don't know that, as a creative, you should try to, you know, pigeonhole yourself or whatever it is, and say, okay, I'm only doing this because I think this is what they're looking for, because you might find a whole new segment or a new market market, as you said, by something that grinds you gears or something that you're really passionate or excited about, and that might be actually a new revenue stream for you 100%, yes, yeah, and the the part.
Meg Calvin:As entrepreneurs, we have to feel pleasure and passion, and that'll sustain us more than anything. Oh for sure, yeah, yeah, totally.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And your points to being vulnerable, genuine, authentic. I I just know this as a I don't know as a scientist scientific fact, but I know it is a fact from every business person, entrepreneur, that I've seen the more authentic and the more genuine they are, the more successful they are.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Oh, yes, right when people see the real you and they understand you and they know what you're about. They're more likely to support you right, and you can't. You can't be the person for everyone, but the people that appreciate you and that agree with you and that, like what you're saying, they're going to support you 100%.
Meg Calvin:Oh, it's so true, yes, yeah.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It is, isn't it it is? I should find a stat on that like a real life one, not just me saying it, .
Meg Calvin:It is, yes, it reminds me of, as we're moving out of the age of information, where we can learn anything on our toilets from our phone, which is disgusting, but it's true, true, yeah, it's true. It is respect and trust. So no one wants to pay to learn from you or buy your content, whether it's a book or a podcast or whatever it is. They don't want to pay you for that till they respect you, trust you and relate to you, and that comes through vulnerability. So there's, there's your stat, there's your fact, there's your evidence.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Your proof. We'll just say we'll just say it's 100%. So okay, how does a creative's business look different from
Meg Calvin:Yes. love this question so much, like all your questions. I think I said that the whole show. I love this question. I love this question. What's coming to me is it would benefit every business owner to have time in their week where they are playing, because and that looks different for everyone because we are so much more resourceful and adaptive we brainstorm better, we dream better when we are playing, so I would think every business owner needs time for that. I think the amount of time that there is a safe space to play and create is different, though if you are creative in business. I think creatives need more of that.
Meg Calvin:I'm feeling from my experience as a creative. My business became extremely successful when I made it a priority in my week two. I also sing, like I said before, so I sing and acquire on my lunch break. I started an improv troupe that meets weekly. I have relationships in place that nurture my priority of play and nurture my need for diversity as well in my business. Like you said, changing spontaneity and, as you said, entrepreneurs we think more. Entrepreneurs, people that are wired to be entrepreneurial think more thoughts than someone that's not wired to be one, and so we need routines and friendships and marriages and parent-child relationships I'm also a mom parent-child relationships that support our entrepreneurial way of being. And then the other difference is we all know in building teams over the years that you want to delegate whatever's not your area of genius, and I would say that's 100% true, obviously for creatives as well. Delegating the for my world. I have teammates that of course, do cover design and fonts, formatting, copy and line editing, research on categories for Amazon and keywords those things that are obviously cover design is art is a creative thing, but the other task or more in line for those with engineering type minds or scientific type minds. So delegating as much as possible where you can show up as the creative. So for me that is opening myself up for making a priority where I am doing what I love most in my business, which is collaborating with authors sitting in the holy, sacred space of our one hour Zoom call, where we're asking deep questions about this chapter or about their brand for their, and helping them align who they are with the frequency of their brand. So that creative work, that deep, sub-conscious unblocking that usually we call it writer's block, but it usually has nothing to do with words on the page. There's something much deeper usually going on, and that's what I love most. So delegating the rest.
Meg Calvin:I actually wrote a little poem, not a poem, it was a post. It's called Dear Lover of Writers, and could I read that with that serve? Of course, really, really, it is short. I think this goes for all creatives that are making a business out of, that are monetizing their creativity, and I think this, as I said earlier, I think it would benefit all business owners to be more creative. But the amount of time that someone who is a creative needs to, I'll just read it. I'll just read it, just read it. Just read it.
Meg Calvin:Okay, it says Dear Lover, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for quite a while now. It's something you probably have picked up on, so I'm just going to come clean about it. I'm a writer. I've wanted to tell you and myself this for years, and while this news might make you nervous, here is some guidance for us to continue to love. Well, there will be times when I need you to be patient with me. There will be times when you just paid the bill at dinner and just at that exact moment, inspiration strikes and I need five extra minutes to jot a chapter idea down on a napkin. Don't worry, this is one of the least socially awkward situations that you will succumb to when you fall for an artistic wordsmith. There will be times when I need extra grace for my overactive imagination and my overly analytical mind. Within these great virtues hide my vices. If you could support a lifestyle that daily gets me out of my beautiful mind and back into my body through loving touch, movement and socializing, that would be appreciated. I fell for you because you are fun, after all, and I will forever return to and require that. There will be times when I have questions about my best-selling book goals or lack the inspiration to write. It's not your job as my lover to know the answers, nor is it your job to inspire me. You are my lover, not my muse. I will receive your. I don't know. Do you need a night off from parenting once a week to find an answer? I can cook and put the tiny one to bed while you research with deep appreciation.
Meg Calvin:There will be times when I have crippling fear and anxiety around the following and then some what if readers don't find me smart enough to write? What if I fail and readers find typos in my book? What if, somehow, an exact version of my book was written 72 years ago by a way better author and some random reader calls me out for plagiarism over an email? What if I freeze and sound like a moron on a podcast? What if people think I'm a fake? What if they find out that I sometimes feel like a fake? What if I'm too successful and I'm not present enough with my kids? What if my book rocks the boat too much and I lose my church friends and my dad is no longer proud of me?
Meg Calvin:In these moments, love, it's not your job to save me from my fear or my anxiety. It's only your job to hold space for my feelings, to hold space for our utter belief in me being who I am a writer. You are my lover, after all, not my coach or my therapist, nor is it their job to save me either. All in all, know that I in no way expect you to save me, inspire me or, heck even, to love my book. I didn't expect you to become my target audience for my book. I expect you to simply support me becoming the best version of myself as a writer. You're my lover, after all, not my client nor my customer. That is all now love. Thank you for hearing me, for seeing me and supporting me as I serve. How I will serve my readers is due largely to how well you have loved me.
Meg Calvin:Ps it's okay if you're afraid. I'm afraid sometimes too. With great love, the writer, you fell hard for. There's so much there about how we're wired as creatives that most of us are highly sensitive, most overly imaginative. There needs to be routines and relationships in place that support all of that as good. It's very good to see a tree and then want to whip out a pin and write about it. It's not crazy. It's good when the muse shows up.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:While you were reading that. First of all, thank you, because that was really interesting to hear for you as a writer, me as a not writer, as you were reading that in my mind, that is me replace writing or the book with business. That was me as an entrepreneur. Everything in there, because I don't look at the tree and want to write about it. I look at the tree and think, how can I make this tree a business? Yes, what is it that can make? How can this make money? I really resonate with that. I think people listening will as well, because it works for entrepreneurs too. 100% right, I love that. I love that. Thank you for sharing. Meg, looking back at your years of being an entrepreneur, do you have a most important lesson ?
Meg Calvin:Yes, I it before you even answered the question. It was like yep, here it is. It is that you are the queen of your queendom and if you're a man listening, you are the king of your kingdom. It is your business, and so what you say goes. And because your audience is people, they're people that have practices in place to be of integrity. They are good people. They are striving to do well. Their business is going to benefit the world. They can trust themselves.
Meg Calvin:To say that, when I was scaling my business, I had people coming under me and I found myself falling back into my former ways as a minister and I was everybody's best friend and I would have meetings with technicians and I would ask things like how can we make this a win for you? Okay, you need more time on that? Okay, okay, let me redo this. And how can I make you comfortable? And then I found myself coaching them and they weren't clients, they were technicians, and so it was such an energy suck and I started to doubt maybe I don't want to do everything for authors. There's a lot of people like the book doulas I think it's two women. They'll help you write the book and edit the book, but they won't do the publishing and the marketing for you. And I'm like I get it. I get why they just do that because, oh well, then I realize. Oh wait, my job would be easier if I just come home to the truth of what I say goes as the queen for my technicians, or not my clients, the people that I hire a contract work with.
Meg Calvin:I'm not going to coach them. If I need something in three months, it has to be in three months. Is that a win for you? It's not, okay, I'm going to find someone else. Thank you for what you've done Instead of and the mistake I was making them was for a season as I was growing was I was treating them like they were partners in my business, and they're not.
Meg Calvin:They're not. And so, yes, I would say you to trust yourself as queen of your queendom, and there's nothing. Not, it is selfish, and it should be selfish, because what I'm building and what your audience, who's listening to this right now, what they're building is good and what's going to make it better is what's inside the head and the heart and the soul of the queen of that queendom. And so be selfish. You are the queen of your queendom and I also. I also love to always share this short Dolly Parton story because she's one of my idols. Dolly Parton her accountant told her if you open this amusement park, it will ruin you financially. It will ruin you and do not do this. This is a horrible business decision. And Dolly said nope, my gut says to do it. And that amusement park is making her so much money and is helping so many people.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I've never been to Dollywood, but it is on my list.
Meg Calvin:Yes, yes, and so I think that she's and if, oh, that's another people, friends listening to this go to Netflix, watch Dolly Parton's documentary. I am something. It tells. Just there's so many lessons in there, as as business owners, for us to listen to, about her own journey of building her empire, and there were just so many moments where she, she was. It was obvious, she knew her role as queen of the queendom she was building. It was so powerful.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:You know what. That's great advice, and I think too, especially for people that are just starting out. You want to be your employee or the people you're working with, friend in the sense you think that's going to get you further, but actually it can kind of bite you in the butt. So I agree with you it's it's not going to be a tyrant about it, but this is the direction we're going and this is how we're getting there and this how long it's taking. And if it doesn't work for you, then you're probably not the right person to be on the ship, right.
Meg Calvin:Yes, 100%.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Is there anything you wish you had known or you could tell yourself five years ago or 10 years ago?
Meg Calvin:Yeah, everything felt so divine in the timing all meant to be. I'm thinking of my own regrets. It's okay if you don't have any.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I mean, the thing is yeah.
Meg Calvin:I do have one that's coming up. I will keep it short, and that is that when you're in, when you're in the coaching world, this is. This has only happened once to me, thankfully, because sales calls and expiration calls can weed out.
Meg Calvin:As the queen of my queendom, one of my rules is I will not work with someone who I wouldn't go get coffee with them. And if there's not frequency alignment with us and they're not service oriented, I I thought it doesn't feel like a match. I won't work with them because it's such an emotionally appropriately emotionally intimate journey and and so I can, and I have a process of Google form before someone even gets on a call with me that they're I'm sure I've read enough to know they're, they're serious about their goals. Um, what I wish I would have known before, oh gosh, is that you can eat.
Meg Calvin:My biggest mistake, that I, my biggest regret, is I had one client that I felt it was not a match and they offered they really wanted to work with me, so they offered more money and and I said I took them on and I, I regret it. And so the lesson there is, I think, for coaches it's okay to let go of clients. It's okay to do refunds. I'm so thankful, I've never had to refund anyone on this journey. But there was one client that I I did not look forward to getting on coaching calls with and I could have. I could have stopped that train earlier. Yeah, and fire a client.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I Fire client yes.
Shauna Foster:Yes.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:And coach or not. If you're service based at all or you have a business where people come to you and that person causes you more grief than joy.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:It's okay to say we're not the place for you or I'm not the person for you. And I think that's hard as humans, because we don't want to say no to people and we want to help people, yes. But I think that's a good lesson and and it's just okay to say no or break up with someone yes, client based right yeah, 100%, I think it's. It's good. I learned that very many years into my business, many years. Okay, I dealt with many people that I did not really like, but once again they were.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:I owned a clothing store, so I mean they purchased an item and left, but it was not pleasurable for me or my staff, and I realized after many years that if they didn't shop with me anymore, I didn't care, because that financial gain was not worth the mental anguish and I think that's a lesson that's good for people to know. So thank you for sharing. I appreciate it. Pleasure, make work and people find you. I know they're going to want to learn more about you. Maybe they're creative, that wants they're like okay, I'm ready, I want to, I want to write a book or I want to learn more. So I think that's the best place for them to come.
Meg Calvin:Yes, I love to connect with them at Instagram, @hey Meg Calvin, and then, if they want, I have a free gift for your audience. That is awesome. It's a short video training three ways to make marketing your book more fun and less frustrating and the marketing principles that I teach in that those three steps are good for marketing any type of business, not just the author brand. So you can get that training three ways to make marketing your book more fun, less frustrating at www. MegCalvin. com and they can get that free training there.
Mackenzie Kilshaw:Awesome. Thank you so much, Meg. I appreciate you being on and appreciate you sharing your story with us. Yes, In the last 46 minutes just flies by I don't know how. So thank you so much and, to everybody listening, we'll see you on the next episode. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.
