Choose Your Advice Carefully

Have you noticed how you can't open a social media app, blog, or vlog without hearing someone share their advice about something?

Everyone has different thoughts; they all think it's the best out there (and most of it is good).

As a consumer, if you don't know something, you hope the advice from those experts will improve your brand, business, or you.

The truth is, not all of the advice is good. Let's talk about why it's essential to choose your advice carefully.


I took a leap three years ago and signed up for an eight-week book coaching program. It seemed perfect on the surface, but I had a few regrets by week four.

Since I had fully committed, there was no going back, so I just had to finish what I started.

As I reflect on the experience, it wasn't that the program was a problem; it was the advice I received. 

At the time, I didn't know any different because I was still learning to market my books and build my publishing career.

Today though, I know so much more and recognize that the program never really helped me move forward in my career.


It's easy to get wrapped up in all the hype. 

For example, when you see trigger words like free or how to become a bestselling author, you grow curious…

…and that's the point.

Words or phrases are used in specific ways to catch your attention. Even personalities will draw you in, and you'll immediately feel this connection to the person on the other side of the screen.


When I signed up for that 8-week program several years ago, the woman was on a podcast and used all the right words to peak my interest. It felt like the perfect opportunity at the time.

Can I tell you a secret? Writing a book may feel hard, but promoting it is even more challenging.

When I learned about the program, I struggled with marketing my books. Well, struggling is a bit of a stretch. I thought I was doing everything wrong when sharing my books because I wasn't making thousands and thousands of dollars.

I was in an author circle that focused on how much money you made with your books and used that to gauge your success. (AND that is a whole separate blog post topic...)

In that circle, I knew my income was much lower than everyone around me.

So when I caught that podcast with the author coach, she used words that made me believe I could finally start making more money. Even better, it would be easy to achieve all my goals.

Let's fast forward through all the dreary details. In the end, I didn't end up making thousands of dollars. I was probably in the negative if you included the program's cost.

What did I discover, though? It's important to choose your advice wisely.

Can I be honest with you right now?

What I say or what someone else may say will not truly help you sell your books. What sells your books is YOU. People find your books, and then they connect with you. 

You can follow everyone's advice and implement everything (I just said some keywords here). 

That advice is everyone else's advice. It's things that worked for their business, their books, and their audience.

Your audience could be completely different and have different needs.

Plus, as I said above–your readers will gravitate to your books because of YOU.

It took paying a lot for an 8-week program and paying for a few more courses to understand what was necessary finally. 

Me. I'm the one important for selling my books.

And yes, You. You are the one who's essential for selling your books.

Oh, and writing is also important.

Making thousands and thousands of dollars is not what's important. Sure, making money is great, but that all comes when you're actively doing your passion and sharing it with your audience.

Social media posts will always distract you from what's important because we naturally doubt ourselves and what we are working on at the time. 

The voice in our heads yell those words, "It's not good enough. You're not doing enough. You need to be a bestseller to be relevant."

But, as this post states, it's important to choose your advice wisely.

Here, let's do a little exercise:

Tell me, why are you writing a book?

When you think about writing that book, what gets you excited?


You started writing for a reason; you had a story to tell. 

We will always get sidetracked by advice that may not move us forward. What's important is can you get back on track and work towards sharing your story.

For me, I removed myself from the places that weren't helping me to move forward. Then I worked hard to connect with creatives with the same mindset as me and my passions.

Also, I stopped getting swayed by all the headlines on social (which I recognize is not easy). I knew the headlines, "how to be a bestselling author or how to write a book in 30 days," was not helpful. 

Every piece of advice shared is not correct; it's also not wrong. You have to find what direction makes sense for you and your story. Finding the winning advice takes time. Maybe create human conversations and get to know the person. 

I had been following the coach I had last year for two years. It ended up being a great experience. It's okay to be picky and say no sometimes.

Your story matters, so don't settle for the first piece of advice you catch on social media.


If you're still unsure about writing your beautiful story, you can grab my 7-Step Guide for Starting Your Story PDF here. The truth is, your story was meant to be told, and someone does need to read it.


And if you're ready to dive in and start your story, you can grab my course that shows you how to use the best all-in-one writing tool. Grab Get Started with Scrivener here.

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