My first installment of Tales of a Solopreneur invited you along for a front-row seat to my solopreneur journey in real-time as I start a book coaching business. Some key areas I will focus on during my start-up process include development, design, brand, marketing, technology, systems, and launch. 

There’s no perfect order to complete these items. Every solopreneur and their situation will be different, and each of these areas can run both broad and deep and become rabbit holes on their own. 

Trying to tackle all of them at once can be overwhelming, which is why my plan is to break up the list into manageable tasks. My hope is that sharing my journey will provide you with frameworks and tips to help you if and when you design your own business.

This installment focuses on an important consideration after you select your business name—whether to trademark it or not. 

The Name Game

Some people are lucky enough to have a business name epiphany—the perfect name that embodies their idea pops into their brain. Others spend weeks, months, or even longer trying to figure out that perfect name—going back and forth but nothing seems just right. 

Regardless of which situation you’re in, it’s helpful to take a step back before you get stuck on a name that may not serve you in the long run. This is something I learned the hard way.

My Epiphany—Lost & Found Again

I had a name epiphany while brainstorming the pillars for my author platform, but I wasn’t ready to move beyond planning at that point. I was so excited about the name, and my excitement seemed to be sincerely shared by the few people I was comfortable sharing the name with…I can be a bit superstitious with these types of things. 

I dragged my feet on locking in the name even though I knew all too well that time is of the essence with these things. 

Fast forward a couple of years, and now my name epiphany—and my platform pillars—are the foundations for both my book coaching business and a nonfiction book project I’m researching. A trusted advisor urged me to protect my business name and brand now, so I didn’t lose my chance to use it later. 

I finally reached out to an Intellectual Property (“IP”) lawyer to inquire about trademarking the name. I ran an updated website domain and social media search on the name in preparation for my first call with the lawyer. The .com website domain had been purchased in 2013 by a business consulting firm in Spain, which had also picked up some of the social media handles. But other than that, the name was nowhere to be found on Google; and the firm was providing very different services abroad than I was envisioning. So I thought I might still be in the ball game and was feeling good.

The lawyer and I started with a thorough intake call where we discussed my platform idea, my short-term and long-term goals for my business and brand, and my ideal business name. Then the lawyer recommended we move to the name search phase, so he could assess whether the name was available to trademark; and if so, whether there were any additional hurdles to address. 

His research showed the name had not yet been trademarked although there was no way to tell whether there was a pending application for the same name, which is another reason why starting the trademark application process can be time-sensitive. 

The research also showed that a retail giant had contested the use of other trademark applications that included a word that was used in both mine and the retailer’s name, including contesting its use by a coaching business with a similar type of name to what I was considering. 

In my opinion, this coaching business would in no way ever be a competitor to the retailer. 

However, at the end of the day that didn’t matter since the retailer has deep pockets and lawyers on staff and can file lots of paperwork to run up the costs and tie up the trademark application process for a long time. 

My lawyer recommended I weigh the costs of a potentially long, expensive, and frustrating process to the benefits of sticking with the name before I decided what I wanted to do. Basically, did the name mean that much to me that I was ready to go toe-to-toe with a household name to trademark a business I was just starting and hadn’t made any money with yet? 

Even though I believed my desired name and products and services—like the other coaching business before me—were different enough that it shouldn’t be perceived by the retailer as an infringement, I ultimately decided the likelihood of the retailer contesting and stalling my momentum was high enough. And this was not how I wanted to spend my time and money while I was trying to start my business. 

I tweaked the name and settled on Mind Your Gap Trip, which is the Instagram handle and hashtag I have been using for myself for a couple of years. This name still reflects all of my platform pillars. And even though it wasn’t quite what I had been dreaming about, I believe it will suit me well in the long run.

To Trademark or Not

You obtain some protection over your name brand by using it in your business, but it’s limited to the specific geography where you’re providing your goods and/or services. A trademark, however, provides legal protection to your name brand on a national basis. 

Trademarking is not required when you open your business. However, it should be on your checklist to at least consider whether it’s needed or desired. You can always choose not to move forward with this option. 

Keep in mind that if you want to provide the most protection available to your name, products, and services using a trademark, you’re better off starting the process as early as possible.

If you are interested in learning more, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) provides substantive information about trademarks and the application process for free at www.uspto.gov/trademarks. 

If you think you might want to pursue this option, I recommend you speak with an IP lawyer up front since they will be able to help steer you in the right direction and identify possible pitfalls. The USPTO also provides information on contacting IP lawyers. The due diligence you and your lawyer do prior to preparing and filing a trademark application is key. 

If you decide to move forward, the trademark application itself will be prepared by your lawyer with your input. 

Once your application is filed, you will be in a sit-and-wait game for a while. Your lawyer may receive some information and correspondence related to the application that requires further action. The application process, for the most part, will be running in the background while you continue to set up and start your business, which is another reason why a timely filing is important. 

You won’t know until you know whether your application is approved since there’s no way to know if someone else has filed a similar application that’s sitting in the queue already, and you don’t know who might contest your filing and whether they’ll be successful. 

You don’t have to wait for the trademark approval to use the name, nor should you since you will have to show the USPTO you are using the name, goods and services that you’re requesting the trademarking for prior to your trademark’s final approval.

Only you can decide whether trademarking your business makes sense since everyone’s circumstances are different. However, don’t let your desire to avoid incurring expenses when you’re in start-up mode, especially when it’s linked to anything that involves lawyers, legal filings, and long wait times, prevent you from thinking long-term strategy at the outset. 

I will admit that I was geeking out with the application process since I found it very interesting, but as a lawyer myself, I know all too well that most people do not feel the same way about legal filings. 

Don’t let that hold you back if you think trademarking makes sense for you. A great lawyer can make the process less scary and relatively painless for you.

What’s Up Next?

My trademark application has been filed, so now it’s time for me to tackle something new—setting up my online platform. I’ve been putting off creating my website for way too long, so I’m finally dipping my toe into that next. 

I hope this latest glimpse into my solopreneur journey continues to inspire you to dig a little deeper into that idea you can’t let go of and start your own journey.

Tell us in the comments: Where are you on your solopreneur journey? Have you selected your business name yet? Have you considered whether trademarking makes sense for you?

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who now spends her days focused on the writing life. Her favorite fiction reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer their fears while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She’s also a fan of non-fiction reads focused on personal growth and transformation. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Tales of a Solopreneur: To Trademark or Not to Trademark appeared first on DIY MFA.

Your regulars show up pretty quickly with drinks and snacks.

“You could get up super early and write for an hour and a half before work.”

“How about skipping lunch and writing in your car?”

“Stay up late and write until midnight!”

And then, that cute one from across the room sidles up behind you and whispers.

“Ever think about writing All. Weekend. Long?”

And your knees give way as desire overwhelms you. Seduced, you throw yourself at your writing for a day or a week, maybe longer. But then the passion wears off and the fatigue sets in. Before you know it, you’re making excuses for not writing today. How you’ll write twice as long tomorrow, or take the time over the weekend. Never mind grocery shopping and cleaning the house and you promised the kids to go to the zoo on Sunday!

And you start feeling guilty, regretful, wondering if you were ever meant to be a writer at all. After all, if you did WANT to be a writer, wouldn’t you be writing regularly? Wouldn’t you be dedicated to your keyboard instead of your family? Wouldn’t the need to write infuse every part of your being?

Learn What You CAN Do

Ok. Calm down. It’s all good.

Those feelings are natural. We all have them. We all enthuse and wonder and doubt and regret the lost chances.

But it’s not too late.

You just have to learn what you can do. And that starts with one small step followed by another (and another…).

“How can I make my writing happen?” is the right question.

And the answer is to pick a tiny, itty, bitty step.

Something that you can’t possibly NOT achieve. Something that shuffles you in teeny movements toward your goal.

Something that you can repeat each day.

When I confronted my own failings, I decided to write for fifteen minutes a day.

That was it. That was all I asked of myself. That was all I could ask of myself.

Fifteen minutes each weekday. I didn’t even make myself write on weekends. Fifteen minutes a day, five days a week.

Starting with that small step allowed me to make progress because I could do it. Over and over again. That petite success encouraged me to continue on my writing path.

What is a Small Step?

Maybe something springs to mind immediately. You know exactly what you will do! You’ll write a thousand words every day! And you’ll have fifty thousand words in fifty days! A novel in less than two months! Woohoo!!!!

Okay, darlin’. I love the enthusiasm, but how about we dial back a notch? Let’s make a little space for life and work and all of those silly normal things that derail our plans.

By embracing small steps and lowering our expectations, we allow ourselves to be successful. And, that success keeps us on track to reach our goals.

When you say you’ll write a thousand words but only manage 250, failure infuses your body. But when you commit to writing a hundred words a day and manage to get to 250, you have WON LIFE! Not only did you reach your goal, you surpassed it! CHAMPION!

So, how about if we cut that thousand words in half? What about setting a goal of 250 words? Or just a hundred? And what if we change the “day” to “day-ish”?

A successful small step is something that is so easy to do that performing the action is simpler than avoiding it.

If you’ve been away from your story for too long, maybe spend five minutes a day thinking about it. Maybe turn on your computer and look at what you’ve already written. Maybe just turn toward your writing space and look at it for a minute each day.

And, if you find yourself thinking, I can’t possibly make my writing happen by simply looking at my computer. I need at least ninety minutes every day without fail to write my book! It can’t be done!!!

That’s your resistance talking. Your resistance will always show up to tell you how it can’t be done.

Be kind to yourself. Tell your resistance that you’ll talk to her later and begin wherever you are.

Start your process with one tiny step. And if you find that tiny step to be too much, cut it in half and try again.

Because by repeating your small step, progress happens. Momentum begins to roll. Where first you just made yourself look at your workspace, one day you actually sat down. And then you began to type. Words began to seep out and fifteen minutes became twenty and then thirty.

Stop and Listen

If you don’t know what small step to take, I suggest starting by blocking off a small amount of time—say, five minutes—and use it to meditate on your goal. Your muse could be screaming an idea at you, but the static from our daily lives drowns out your muse’s quieter voice.

When meditation facilitates moments of silence, space appears for your muse’s soft tones to be heard. That inner voice bubbles to the top and tells you what is possible.

Just so you know, the other voices show up first. Grocery lists, chores that need doing, your argument with a coworker, the last thing you read on social media—all of these things materialize in your mind. Nudge them gently aside and re-focus on the silence. Eventually, those voices subside and allow the message to get through.

So, take the time for your muse and your mind and your heart to speak to you. They know what to do. Give them the space to tell you.

Every tiny step toward your goal opens the door to your muse. These small steps train your mind that this is the time when I write. This is the moment I show up to play. This is the time to do my creative work.

Take that small step, and begin.

Now that you have your “How can I make this happen?” goal, consider it from all sides. What is the smallest repeatable step you can take toward your goal?

***This post uses Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Tools.

Tell us in the comments: What small step are you going to take today?

LA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois empowers you to embrace JOY as you manifest your creative goals through her Creativity and Business Coaching. Battle resistance, procrastination, and overwhelm with her at your side, gently encouraging with humor and heart. Discover more at her website, labourgeois.biz

The post Start with a Small Step appeared first on DIY MFA.

This first installment of my Tales of a Solopreneur series focuses on brainstorming your business before you start building it. And if you are new to the VWS, check out Create Your Own Virtual Writers Sabbatical, which provides a roadmap on how to kick off your own virtual writing craft adventure.

Where to Start Your Solopreneur Journey?

My typical reflex is to rush to implementation once an idea fully materializes in my mind since it’s usually been popping up without warning or taking up mental space for a while, so I started a list of the key areas I thought I’d need to focus on to get my business up and running: development, design, brand, marketing, technology, systems, and launch. 

But before overwhelm set in and I spent significant time building my business, I wanted to ask some critical questions I hoped would help me stay engaged long-term, avoid racking up business-related expenses on the wrong things if my idea morphed in the early stages, and make sure my idea’s foundation was strong yet had some room to shift as it settled, so I could pivot productively over time. 

So the first step to building my business included all thinking—and no doing. I focused on me and my ideal customer/coaching client (“IC”) using a 5 W’s & H Framework.

WHO Do I Want To Help; And Equally Important, WHO Do I NOT Want To Help?

I started with identifying who I wanted to help and why because it’s just as important to me to enjoy the camaraderie of who I’m surrounding myself with day-in and day-out as the work that I’m doing. The future of online businesses is bright; but just because there are more people online these days looking for a fix or resolution to a problem or question they have, does not mean I should focus on the masses and helping everyone. I believe this influx can work to my disadvantage if I’m not thoughtful and strategic about how I position my business and my brand. 

My business will involve 1:1 and group coaching, so there will be limits on how I can scale my business. I was drawn to book coaching for the human connection as much as the stories. I believe I’m likely to find more success focused on a smaller audience with a specific niche. 

I want my target audience to know in their bones that I’m speaking to them when they see my brand. The clearer the connection I can create between me and who I want to serve, the less time I will waste fielding requests and possibly working with clients who don’t value me or what I have to offer them. Instead, I can spend more time creating and communing with those who I can and want to help the most.

Here are the initial WHO questions I used to develop my ideal client (IC) image:

• Dreams vs. Destinations: What does my IC dream about, and where are they on the path to that dream? What steps have they taken towards their dream? Are they more attracted to the idea of the dream itself, experiencing the journey, or reaching their dream destination? What are their roadblocks and/or pain points along the way?
• Real Life: What does their day-to-day life look like? How do they spend their largest chunks of time? What are their most important responsibilities and the biggest pain points that keep them up at night?
• Free-Time & Fun: What is their favorite thing to do or way to spend their time? What’s their relationship with free time, and how do they like to spend it? Do they take time out to care for themselves? Do they have enough fun, or is fun one more thing on their to-do list they never get to?
• What’s the Attraction & the Turn-Off?: What is it about the IC that makes me care about helping them reach their dream destination? What qualities would turn me off and make me resist, resent, and/or regret working with them? 

WHAT Help Can I Provide My IC?

One thing I’ve learned as a writer is there are no new ideas. The same could be said of starting a solopreneur business. Most of us are not the first, nor the last, to enter our respective industry. But I believe there’s enough room for all of us if we focus on our own unique qualities: what we bring to the table and how we do things differently from others. This is often referred to as a unique selling proposition (USP) or creative expression. So I strive to focus on myself, do the best I can, and spend minimal time worrying about what everyone else is doing.

Here is how I identified my USP—the intersection between my IC’s pain points and where I could help them:

• IC Pain Points: I reviewed my IC’s day-to-day and dream destination pain points from above and ranked them in one column in descending order starting with what’s most important and/or urgent to them.
• My Strengths: I listed in another column the skills and knowledge I have to help them. 
• Connections: I drew lines connecting the entries in the two columns where my strengths could provide value to their pain points. Then I noted on each line how I could help fix their problem. Can I eliminate it, shrink it, or prevent it from happening? 
• Priorities: I circled in a different color the lines where I thought I could provide the most value, so I can focus on these items as I build out my USP and service offerings. I also starred the remaining pain points that would become hurdles to coaching success if not addressed in some manner. 

WHY Would My IC Want My Help?

The coaching relationship is just that: a relationship, with a give and take and a dedication or commitment on both sides to actively participate. I want my IC to be in it to win it to set them up for a positive and productive experience, so I started with these questions:

• Fix or Fumble: Does my IC actually want help fixing their pain points and reaching their dream destination? Given the right resources, will they take action? Or do they like the idea of it and are hoping for a quick fix with minimal effort?
• Time and Effort: How much time and effort will be required on their part, and are they likely to make the commitment? 
• Success Defined: How would they (and I) identify success for them and measure their progress? Is there more to gain besides just addressing their pain points or getting closer to their dream? Are there other benefits or positive impacts?
• Roadblocks: What could get in the way of their coaching success, and is there a way to stop it?
• Customization: Is the help needed a one-size (or a few sizes) fits all, or will the answer require customization for each IC? What’s the scalability of the services I can provide?
• Commitments: What can I/can I not promise them? What commitments do I expect from them?

WHERE & WHEN Will Help Be Available?

I knew I wanted my business to start and remain online long-term, so my WHERE and WHEN questions focused on: 

• WHERE and WHEN my IC will be able to access information on me and my business and start an inquiry into the coaching process, and 
• WHERE and WHEN I will provide coaching services to my clients.

HOW Will I Work?

I needed to make sure my initial business implementation would be aligned with my long-term goals to avoid setting up structures or client expectations that would be burdensome or difficult to change later. Some key questions I asked were:

• Mission & Values: It always seems to come back to my WHY. But in order to identify what success as a book coach looks like for me, I need to keep checking in with myself to determine if my WHY is still the same. And if it’s not, is the change significant enough to require me to pivot and how?
• Work Structure: Part-time or full-time or over-time? Flexible work-week or standard business hours? Office setting?
• Task Maximization: What tasks will be required and how will I split my time? My task buckets include: client project work, deep thinking strategy, business administration, client calls and communications, and networking with other colleagues in the industry. Although all tasks will be mine to start, which tasks should I pass on to someone else later, when, and how? 
• Solo Forever?: Do I want to remain a one-person shop and add a virtual assistant? If I want to add employees, why and how would they fit into the big picture? 

What’s Up Next on My Solopreneur Journey?

Although the specific questions will change along the way, the 5 W’s & H Framework is an iterative process that I will keep returning to throughout my business development. But for now, I have my IC avatar in sight, and I have a strong enough understanding of what I want my business to look and feel like to move forward. 

So next up for me is to do a deeper dive into viability testing, which I spent some time on before starting the book coaching certification program. This will include researching the industry and what other comparative businesses are doing and what their business models look like, as well as determining what the business’s long-term earnings potential looks like. I will also continue my book coaching certification studies. The viability testing and expertise building are additional ways to refine my USP, so developing my marketing brand will be easier to figure out when I get to that step. 

Then, I can focus on the other areas in manageable chunks: setting up the business entity, building my website and social media marketing, designing coaching packages, selecting the technology and systems to use with my clients and behind the scenes, the business roll-out, and anything new that pops up along the way. 

I’m excited about my solopreneur journey and hope sharing my 5 W’s & H Framework to brainstorming a business has inspired you to dig a little deeper into that idea you can’t let go of. 

Will 2022 be the year you start your solopreneur startup?

Tell us in the comments: Are you considering starting your own solopreneur business? How are you applying the 5 W’s & H Framework?

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who now spends her days focused on the writing life. Her favorite fiction reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer their fears while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She’s also a fan of non-fiction reads focused on personal growth and transformation. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Tales of a Solopreneur appeared first on DIY MFA.

Checking the Itinerary

I selected five destinations for my own virtual trip at the beginning of 2021 and have shared my experiences on three of them in earlier installments: Create Your Own Virtual Writers Sabbatical describes how to kick-off your VWS, How Creativity, Inc. Inspired Me shares the importance of support from others in your writing successes and Challenging a Genre Identity Crisis focuses on how our reading and writing tastes can evolve when we least expect it. My final 2021 destination is to complete a book coaching class.

What is a Book Coach?

A book coach is an editor, mentor, and cheerleader all rolled into one. Book coaches can work with writers at any stage in their writing process. Whether you’re starting a new project, stuck in the middle of one, or getting ready to pitch or publish, a book coach will meet you where you are in your writing project and provide you support with writing craft, accountability, and emotional support. 

Imagine having your own interactive beta reader who can: tell you what they see happening on the page (as compared to what you think is happening), help you brainstorm through your roadblocks, provide recommendations on ways to improve your writing or new things to try, and be honest with you on what they think is holding your story back from its full potential. That’s a book coach.

Is Book Coaching for Me?

I discovered last year while participating in DIY MFA’s small group coaching program and then an off-shoot critique group from there that I enjoyed reading other writers’ developing stories and the creative brainstorming and collaboration that was part of the process almost as much as I enjoyed writing my own story. I wrote about this in How Creativity, Inc. Inspired Me. 

I then revisited DIY MFA Radio’s Episode 221 in which Jennie Nash, founder of Author Accelerator, talked about training book coaches to support writers and I did some follow-up research. 

I ultimately decided book coaching would be a great way for me to meld: my love of books, my affinity for the storytellers who follow the little—and at times, very big—voice in their head telling them they must write, and my pre-writing-life skills and strengths that align well with book coaching. 

I signed up for the Author Accelerator Book Coach Certification program in fiction, so I could learn the additional skills I needed to effectively guide, collaborate with, and support other writers as a book coach while at the same time also enhancing my writing craft knowledge to apply to my own WIP.

Book Coaching Is Its Own Virtual Writers Sabbatical

It’s now mid-November, and I’ve been working my way through the fiction program since spring and loving every minute of it, especially working on the first two practicums which gave me a front-row seat with two wonderful writers who trusted me enough to share their amazing stories and characters with me during the creative process. The adrenaline rush I felt working with them on their WIPs and my excitement for what’s ahead for them confirmed book coaching was for me. 

Experiencing first-hand the positive impact book coaching can have on a WIP made me want to experience it for myself. Plus, I figured if I’m going to talk the talk, I should walk the walk. I recently hired my own Author Accelerator certified book coach to help me with my WIP, so I could see what it’s like to be on the other end of the book coaching relationship. This is what I’ve learned so far:

Book coaching is an opportunity to shine a light on your own creation without having to share the spotlight with others. 

Writing can be isolating which is why many of us participate in classes, Facebook groups, social media, and other community and critique groups for camaraderie, emotional support, craft expansion/enlightenment, and writing feedback. And the dose of dopamine we receive from the human contact aspects of these activities can make them worthwhile in and of themselves. I heart my critique group (see my ode to them in How Creativity, Inc. Inspired Me).  

But the costs of time and energy spent on group activities can often outweigh the benefits measured by the forward progress you make on your WIP. Many of these activities lack productive structures to start with, and then they parse out the allotted time (i.e., more projects receive surface-level attention instead of deep dives for one or two). 

Sometimes it’s nice to just do You. Working with a book coach focused on just your project is a luxury (although it really shouldn’t be) that not enough writers experience.    

Finding the right book coach is like finding a soulmate. 

Your book coach should be your trusted advisor who provides you with a safe space to create, and you in return can be honest with them as you work through the excavating process that inevitably happens while writing a book. 

Whether intentional or unintentional, sometimes free writing help from your community can come with its own hidden costs if you’re not paying attention. Your book coach should commit to supporting you as you grow and reach for your goals and dreams instead of throwing competing agendas in your path. And when you’re ready to proclaim in the words of Cristina Yang, “…you’re my person…,” then you know you’ve found the right book coach.

You likely won’t know if you’re truly ready for coaching until you’re smack dab in the middle of it.

Craving that fresh perspective—and processing it when you’re the one in the hot seat—can seem like two completely different experiences. It can be scary at first. My ears started ringing and my mind went blank at first—just like the first time I was called on to answer a line of Socratic questioning in Contracts Law. But you get through it, and it gets easier the more you do it. 

Your ability to receive, make sense of, and utilize constructive feedback, no matter how well it’s communicated to you, takes time to develop, similar to building a muscle.  But like many things in life, you must be in it to win it. A coaching relationship can’t thrive if you’re half in and half out; being vulnerable is required, just like it’s a prerequisite to writing for others. But your results will be amplified by your own commitment to the coaching process. 

Book coaches can benefit from having their own book coach, too.

You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m one of those growth-mindset people. I know there’s a lifetime of learning ahead of me, and I geek out from the learning process itself. Even though I’m on my own path to becoming a certified book coach, I know there are still many things for me to learn about writing and book coaching. Having a fresh set of eyes to provide another perspective is always a plus, but it’s even more powerful when the person is also an expert in the area and can pick up on things that you’re too close to see, may take for granted, or just haven’t learned yet.  

My coach’s feedback was a game-changer for me within the first couple of sessions. Her feedback is always thoughtful, insightful, and evidence-based. She’s highlighted my weakest links and the story angles I was neglecting that needed extra attention. She’s introduced me to new ideas around story itself and helped me reframe some ideas I was already familiar with. She’s helped me figure out where to focus my story prep time to maximize my output. 

And, most importantly, she’s provided me with an independent view that I will never be able to provide for myself, while it’s still early enough in the writing process to make changes that will positively impact my story’s long-term trajectory.

Heading Into the Final Stretch of 2021

The last legs of my book coaching class experience include: completing the final prong of course materials, working through my last practicum, and applying to Author Accelerator to become a certified fiction book coach. 

Where To Next?

My 2022 VWS destinations will include completing Author Accelerator’s companion non-fiction program next and designing, building, and launching my own book coaching business. I’ve never built a side hustle before, but I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting into the details of all things solopreneur. 

I hope you’ll join me again on next year’s journey. But for now, as we get ready to turn the page to 2022, I hope you will carve out some time during the craziness of the holiday season to focus on you, your dreams, and your vision of what you’d like to accomplish with your own writing craft and goals by this time next year. 

Don’t forget to check out the roadmap at Create Your Own Virtual Writers Sabbatical to update your current itinerary for next year’s trip—or to set up your new VWS if you’re just getting started. I will keep an eye out for you on the virtual road!

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who is now chasing a career as a writer. Her favorite reads are suspense, mystery, and contemporary women’s fiction. She is writing her first YA suspense novel. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Virtual Writers Sabbatical: Discovering the Art of Book Coaching appeared first on DIY MFA.