Are you showing up as an active participant in creating the kind of business and life you want? In today’s minisode, Emily is expanding on an idea she discussed with Tara Gentile on the What Works podcast. Emily shares how being an active participant in the creation of the Being Boss book was the key to how it ultimately ended up as exactly what she wanted. Listen to the full episode of the What Works podcast here >>
Kathleen Shannon 0:00
All right, the being boss book is here,
Emily Thompson 0:03
and you can buy it wherever books are sold and bosses. It's beautiful.
Kathleen Shannon 0:08
If you've bought the book and want to help us make it a bestseller, please leave us a rating and review on Amazon.
Kathleen Shannon 0:17
This minisode of being bosses brought to you by twenty20, where creative entrepreneurs get inspiring photos. If you're looking for authentic images to illustrate all of the hard work you've been putting in lately, twenty20 has millions of real world photos proven to help you tell a more engaging story, whether that's on social media, your blog, or your website. And they're all available under a simple royalty free license. twenty20 is partnering with being boss to support all the creative bosses and is offering you a seven days five photo free trial. That's a seven day access to license five photos for free to start your trial now go to twenty20.com/beingboss. That's the word 20, then to zero.com slash being boss to get five free photos.
Emily Thompson 1:07
Hey, bosses, Emily here and this week, I am thrilled to be a returning guest on Tara Gentile's podcast what works, a show about what's actually working to run, manage and grow small businesses in the digital age. Tara had so many really great questions about the being boss book. And what came up for me during this conversation was the idea of being in control of your work and your destiny, which sounds really big. I know. But stick with me. Because it's not about doing something and crossing your fingers to hope it all works out. Okay. But actually being an active participant and creating the kind of experience that you want to have. So let's dig into that a little bit in this minisode. Because bosses, this is the secret sauce to having a business and life that you find fulfilling throughout the entire process of bringing this being boss back to life, Kathleen and I actively worked every single day to create what we wanted from this book and how we could put it out there in the exact way that we wanted to put it into the world. And this started with choosing the right book agent, as opposed to taking the first agent we talked to, and also how we were able to really dig in with our publishers in ways that most most authors probably don't. We showed up during every step of this process to make the opportunity into exactly what it is that we wanted it to be. But it's also brought up some new understandings of how it is that you work for what you want, which is also something that I talked to Tara about in this podcast, for example, we talk a lot here at being boss about getting clear. We're also to a place where we want to define everything.
Emily Thompson 3:09
But what happens if your definitions of what you want, block you in and leave you closed off to opportunities that you can't even imagine. We're playing around with the idea here at being boss, that maybe you shouldn't divine, what it is that you want not super clearly, with the hope that you can pull in opportunities that are bigger than you can imagine, or are shaped like anything that we can define for ourselves. Now this is not for everyone. I feel like these are some next level boss tactics, but hear this out. So instead of ultra defining, we're focusing on pursuing opportunities, with our values in place. We know what we stand for. And we know when we will back down from something that's a wrong fit. But during the process, we're going beyond defining and more into upholding our values. And honestly for the book project, this has worked really well. And again, this is next level bossiness, you have to be able to define the thing and work towards it. But once you've done that for years and years, and you've proven to yourself that you can do this you've mastered doing the work and meeting your goals, then I think it goes to that next step. I think it's knowing who you are, knowing what it is that you value and showing up and making the world your oyster. Here's more of this episode that I did with Tara Gentile.
Tara McMullin 4:47
What gave you guys the idea to make the leap from the being boss podcast to a being boss book.
Emily Thompson 4:54
I love that. So being boss, or actually let's start even before being boss. Mine and Kathleen's relationship where we've been, you know, we've been business besties for years. And one of the goals that we kept sharing with each with each other was that we wanted to write a book. And back then it was always separately and neither of us knew what our book was going to be about, or, or anything we just knew that, like publishing was something that we wanted to do. And then whenever we started the being boss podcast, we went into it always with this sort of super lofty dream of it being what we called a multi media conglomerate. And we had no idea what that was going to mean. But we always knew that the content that we were sharing on the beam boss podcast, was going to live on other platforms beyond the podcast. So we didn't know what that would be. But obviously, a book would fit into that really well. So once we started creating all of that being both content and really working on what our pillars were with those foundations of being boss, where, and gathering all of this information from people that we were interviewing, and in those conversations, we were having just the two of us, we felt that it was time to live out a couple of our dreams, and one of those being writing a book. And the other of those being growing, being boss beyond just the podcast. So it was really a natural next step for both of us, both separately and together. And so a book was something that because it was a dream of ours, because it was something that we had always been hoping to do was just the second part or the second format for the being both podcast, and we're sure it will take on other steps beyond that. But the book was what was going to happen next.
Tara McMullin 6:49
Gotcha. And let's talk about the timing of this because the idea is one thing. But I think timing is another thing. And there's I think there's probably never a right time. And there's always a right time, right. So why now and obviously realizing that because this is a traditionally published book, and we'll get to that in a moment. This isn't it's not now, right? It's been in the works for a long time,
Emily Thompson 7:13
right now is a very long time.
Tara McMullin 7:15
Very long time. Why did you decide now, you know, a couple of years ago was the right time to write the book.
Emily Thompson 7:22
Sure. So I guess it was officially probably two years ago. And I think it was about the time that we're wrapping up one year. So we're actually recording this in January, just to give some some context, where we're wrapping up the end of the year and diving into the beginning of a new year and making some plans as to what it was that we were going to be doing and being boss that year. And one of those was, I think it's time to write a book. And so we just want to set it and put it out there that you know, maybe this is the year that we write that book and not really making any hardcore steps towards it, except talking about it, between ourselves. And then also on the podcast little bit this idea that we wanted to write a book. And because we were putting that out into the world, both in the conversations we were having with ourselves, that sort of does start driving some little steps behind the scene behind the scenes, but also, you know, to our audience, we started getting a book agents contacting us, saying that they had heard us either mentioned that we want to book or they had seen our content and felt that it would make a great book. And so we started having conversations with book agents. And that's when it really started getting real in that, like, we're actually taking real steps towards writing a book.
Emily Thompson 8:37
And we had a couple of conversations with booking agents. And none of them really felt like the right fit. So we were really diving into not only like what it was going to look like to create a proposal and you know, have this relationship. But what we were looking for in that kind of relationship, which helped us define the kind of book agent that we wanted to work with. So once we can start narrowing in on, you know, the kinds of the kinds of experiences we wanted to have along the way, we were able to get a lot more discerning, and a lot more action oriented with, you know, actually making this book happen. And I think it was about a year and a half ago. So let's say What year is this? This is 2018 now, so it would have been summer of 2016. We we got an email from a being boss listener, and she'd been listening to be involved for a really long time. She was a booking agent. We had helped her quit her day job and to embark on you know her life as a creative entrepreneur as a book agent. And she wanted to help us turn our podcast into a book and we had a conversation with her. And we knew immediately that she was the perfect fit for representing us and our book to the publishing world. And so at that point, a year and a half ago, it started becoming super official. And once we had a book agent, doing that book proposal, which is The part that we've really been putting off all the while, was a very important piece of homework that we had to get done. Excuse me.
Emily Thompson 10:11
So we started our book proposal. And so in summer of 2016, we started our book proposal, it probably took us a month and a half or two to write it and really finesse it and get it going. And then we pitched it to wait whenever I say we are wonderful book agent, pitched it to publishing houses. And then once that happened, it actually started happening happening relatively quickly. So we talked to a couple, we got a couple of bids from a couple. And we made our decision. And so by the end of 2016, we had a book deal and we had mapped out on our calendar when we were going to write the book. And that's pretty much when I get started.
Emily Thompson 10:57
Now you can listen to the full episode over on what works wherever you listen to podcasts, or at TaraGentile.com. Alright, excuse me, while I pause this for a moment and let you in on the most exciting news. I've made the ever shared. Kathleen and I have had a baby, a book, baby. That's right, the being boss book is out and available for you to purchase. It's been a long labor, but it's here and it's beautiful if we must say so ourselves.
Kathleen Shannon 11:27
We wrote this book to help creatives like you cultivate the confidence it takes to take control of your work and to make money doing what you love so that you can live life on your own terms. And because that mission feels so right deep down in our bones, we're here to ask you for some help. We need to get this in the hands of every creative who suffers from frati feelings, who's stuck in mindsets that keeps them from creating the thing and who struggle with charging what they're worth.
Emily Thompson 11:55
So first, buy this book for yourself. Because if you're a fan of this show, you're going to love what we've got going on in the being boss book. Note, we highly recommend getting the printed book we've made it to be held written in and become an accessory on your desk.
Kathleen Shannon 12:11
Second to send a link to a friend. anyone you know who could benefit from some boss awesomeness in their eyeballs. It's filled with full color photos, worksheets and tips for being boss, they're gonna love it.
Emily Thompson 12:24
Third, leave us a rating and review on Amazon. Our dream is to skyrocket this book to the kind of success that has every creative in the world feeling like a total boss. So your support there would mean everything to us. Now, go to being boss club slash book for links to purchase or head on over to wherever books are sold. Thank you for your continued support. It's because of you that we've been able to bring this book into the world. Now. Let's get back at it.
Kathleen Shannon 12:52
This minisode was brought to you by twenty20. Check them out at twenty20.com/beingboss. That's t w e and t y 20 as in the number.com slash being boss.
Emily Thompson 13:07
Did you like this minisode Be sure to check us out on our website at beingboss.club. There you can find more from being boss including our full episodes minisodes and blog posts. And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so that you can get access to behind the scenes and exclusive content from Kathleen and myself to help you be more boss in your work and life. Do the work be boss
