In today’s solo episode, I shed some light on what it looks like to work with a book coach. And because I’m a book coach myself, I have seen time and again what makes for a successful partnership.
A book coach can bring incredible benefit to your writing process. But hiring a book coach is just the start—what you bring to the partnership decides how much you get out of it. I’ll talk about expectations on both sides of the process, from coaches to authors, and how to keep balance in the experience.
The great news is that a book coach is rooting for you! They want to see you succeed, and they’re going to be following you and your success long after you work together. So this engagement is really a long-term relationship.
If you want to learn valuable tips about working with a book coach and getting the most out of your experience, this episode is for you!
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How to get the best out of your book coach | Episode 275 Transcript
These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.
Stacy: You have hired a nonfiction book coach to support you on your book, and now you want to make the most out of this work and with this person that you have hired to guide your author journey. We’re going to address exactly how to do that today. But first, for those of you who are new to me, hello, I am Stacy Ennis. I am a best-selling award-winning author, but more importantly, to you, I am a nonfiction book strategist and coach. So this is my jam. This is the area that I work within. I have personally contributed to well over a hundred books. I’ve also written, authored, or co-written 18 books myself. I’m currently working on number 19. I fell in love with writing when I was seven. I got a bachelor’s and master’s in writing. So this has been my whole entire world. And I create videos like this, podcasts like this to support you on your author journey. So I hope that today is really helpful for those of you who have hired a book coach or about to hire one, considering hiring one. We’re gonna dig into six things that will help make this a much more successful partnership.
Stacy: Welcome to Beyond Better, a podcast that explores a simple but profound idea. We all deserve to live lives we love, and that includes our work lives too. I’m your host, Stacy Ennis, an author, book coach, speaker, and longtime location independent entrepreneur, living in Portugal with my family of four. Join me as I talk business, location independence, writing, publishing, and so much more. All focused on building a life that is beyond better. Before I go any further, though, be sure that you are following me if you’re listening to this on the podcast, or you have subscribed if you’re on YouTube. This helps me help you. It helps me reach more future authors. It also gives me the encouragement and support to keep creating free content to support your author journey. First and foremost is to get super clear on your project plan. I’ve talked about this in another video on hiring a book coach, but I want to dig in a little bit more today. Your book coach should provide you with a project plan, an overview of the process that you will be following. If they don’t, the onus is on you to create that plan. It should be time-bound, it should have some milestones in it. And then on the other side of this, you need to plan for your time. Right now, go onto your calendar. You can pause this video and make space for your book. You can add specific time blocks. I usually recommend three to four days a week, five if you have the space, time, and energy. And these can be anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours. It depends on what your creative band is. That planning, that’s on you. Your book coach can give you the overview and the process and the system. But you need to show up as well. You need to put in that time and energy on your calendar. You need to protect it and you need to show up for it. So be sure that that plan is in place. Next is to show up for the collaboration and do the work. So this means be on time for your calls. Don’t be rushing in and late. Try to do your best to show up with presence for every conversation with your coach. And this is true for your work as well.
Stacy: You need to show up with presence for the work that you are doing, the work that you’ve committed to do with your coach. Now that said, life be life, and sometimes, right? Like this is just how it is. We have things that come up. And so if you have a health issue or something comes up with your children or there’s a loss, this happens. It’s life. Communicate with your coach. Don’t just hold it in. Don’t keep it to yourself. Really be sure that you’re being clear with your coach so that they can help make adjustments for you. A coach will know when to, you know, open up space, give you more space, and they’ll also know when to push a little and push you forward. So be sure to communicate early and often with your coach. Next is to trust their process and your intuition. I often tell my authors that I am not an all-seeing, all knowing, perfect book person. I have a lot of knowledge, a lot of expertise, and I bring that to the process, but they are also wise. They have intuition. And so there’s always a balance there that if your coach suggests something, but you have a different idea or different opinion, bring it up. This is where some of the best ideas come from is that that. Pushing back that challenging of each other. Of course, you’re gonna do it in a professional and respectful way, but just balance that in your relationship with your coach. If they say something that just doesn’t feel aligned, for example, maybe your coach suggests that your reader is a specific person that represents a broader group of people and you’re working on defining that one reader. But that is so misaligned for you with the big vision that you have for your book. You need to say something, you need to point it out, and you need to polish it together. Next is to treat it like a relationship. This is not transactional. When you’re working with a coach, it’s very much a relationship that you’re building and developing that could last for years, if not decades. I’ve been in touch with some of my clients for more than 10 years. And a great coach is in it.
Stacy: They care, they want to see you succeed, they’re going to be following you and your success long after you work together. So really enter this engagement, thinking about it like a true relationship. Next, this is probably a funny one to add in here, but I have to say it, you need to pay them on time. Okay. This is really a big thing for coaches. If you’re working with a coach and you’re consistently paying them late. That feels very disrespectful to your coach. This is a sign of how you value their work. So I really, really suggest that you either set up auto pay with them so you don’t need to think about it, pay in full at the beginning. Usually coaches will offer a slight investment reduction if you pay in full at the beginning. So you could ask about that. or set some kind of calendar reminders so that you are remembering to pay them on time or Perhaps when they send their monthly invoice, you just pay it right away. I cannot emphasize enough how much this matters to coaches, particularly to smaller coaches who maybe don’t bring in as much monthly income. They’re really relying on you to pay your bill so they can pay their bills. And it’s it just is a really important thing to keep in mind. Coaches, book coaches who are watching this or listening to this, I highly recommend setting up a couple of those options that I just recommended. So a full payment, investment reduction, it’s good for both of you, or an auto-pay monthly installment. So if the client is paying by month, make it really easy for both of you that it just auto-bills for a set period of time. Set it, forget it, everybody’s happy. And lastly, reach out when you need your coach. Do not struggle and suffer. Let your coach know if you’re having a hard time or if you’re stuck. Your coach will know whether to say, look, give it a couple more days. This is normal to feel this way. You might need to do a walk or here’s an activity that will help you. But reach back out to me in two to three days if you’re still feeling like this. Or they might be able to say, let’s hop on a call, let’s talk through this, or voice note together, let’s un let’s get you unstuck.
Stacy: A coach will know how to help you with that. So don’t hesitate to reach out to your coach. Great coaches will be so happy that you reached out and that they’re able to help you before it spirals into a point of difficult to return from. The sum total of all of this is that coaching engagement is a two way relationship. Of course, your coach needs to show up fully. They need to be all in it, they need to be organized, experts, and that’s about half or less than half of it. You have to show up too. And by ensuring that you show up fully, you’re organized, you’re on time on everything, or you communicate if for some reason you can’t be, that is going to help you get the most out of this really powerful coaching relationship. If this has supported your author journey, I would be so grateful if you take a moment to follow my podcast. If you’re listening to this on the podcast, or Hit the subscribe button on YouTube if you are on YouTube. Leave me a comment and let me know what questions you have or what you found interesting. I read everything and I try really hard to address your questions and comments in future videos or on my email newsletter. I read everything you send me and I try really hard to address your questions and comments in my content. So whether that’s the podcast, my weekly newsletter, or on social media. And I will be back with you before you know it.
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