Kc Rossi 0:02
Are you ready to scale your business in a way that's aligned with your soul, and profitable? I'm Kc Rossi, a Business and Leadership Coach. I've been a full time entrepreneur for 30 years and love business. I help conscious leaders increase their impact and optimize their lives. Join me each week for tips and deep conversations on cultivating confidence, increasing your visibility, elevating your vibration, and leading with purpose without burning out. Let's go!
Kc Rossi 0:35
My guest today is Jyotsna Ramachandran. Jyotsna is a best selling author TEDx speaker and an international author success coach who helps coaches trainers and speakers build super profitable author funnels. To help them with their book she founded Happy Self Publishing to help overwhelmed yet purpose driven authors experience a transformative journey of self discovery through their process of publishing their books and amplifying their message. This is such a feel good episode, not only does Jyotsna share a tremendous amount of helpful tips if you've ever thought about penning a book, but we also talk about the secret to feeling really alive. The internal and external benefits of being an author, how to overcome the imposter syndrome. Tips to dig deep and cultivate courage and the benefits of not only self publishing, but having a writing mentor, I know that you are going to get so much out of this episode. And I hope you just brew your favorite beverage sit back, relax, and get ready to learn. Enjoy.
Kc Rossi 1:43
Jyotsna Ramachandran. Welcome to the show.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 1:46
Thank you so much Kc for having me on your podcast.
Kc Rossi 1:48
I am really excited to dive in with you and talk about all things writing and entrepreneurialism and purpose because I really do feel that this common thread in yourself and in your brand is purpose which I'm completely aligned with because I feel we really need that connection and that focus in order to have a sustainable and joyfilled business. So right off the bat, I'm really curious, you have such an inner vitality, that just comes out of you like even today, like your yellow, your sunny, you know, on our previous connection, I felt the exact same thing there is a twinkle in your eye. And I'm just wondering, what do you do to get that glow?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 2:38
Oh, well, I am not really sure I can find that one thing. But I feel Kc, I make sure that on any given day, I tried to balance the different aspects of my life that I really enjoy, whether it's playing with my kids, or going to my Zumba class, or going for a date night with my spouse or having this training with my team, which I had today. So I make sure that I just don't focus on one thing and feel drained at the end of the day, because I like to be everything and be everywhere. So I try to do all of that at any given point. And I think that makes me feel really alive.
Kc Rossi 3:13
That's awesome. That truly is putting the work life balance into action, not just words. And I think many entrepreneurs we can read about self care, but then it never somehow manages to end up on our to do list. So do you schedule time to bring in those integrated pieces in your life?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 3:33
Yeah, in fact, I sometimes feel guilty that I schedule my fun things first. And my work later, unlike most entrepreneurs who actually have their meeting schedule first and then the other things. So yeah, I actually become very serious when it comes to planning my holidays and things like that.
Kc Rossi 3:49
I love that I think we should all flip the paradigm of that hustle, grind culture and really look at the most important things. Do you feel that you've gotten more focused in that realm? Post 2020 with the COVID introduction, or have you always been that way?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 4:07
Actually, I think the turning point in my life was when I became a mum, that was eight years back. So but just before that I was running another business, which was into staff recruitment, and that was my first business. So I don't have 30 years of experience like you, Kc but I was just feeling happy. And I celebrated that I completed one decade as an entrepreneur and that was a big win for me. So for the first two years, my way of approaching my business was very different because it was business first everything else later because I really wanted to prove to myself and my family that I could be successful because there was nobody in my family was ever done a business. So it's all focused on that. But after becoming a mum, I realized that my lifestyle has changed. Now I cannot be going out and meeting clients all day. And this little kid demanded my time and that's when I asked should I just shut down my business and only be a full time? stay at home mom or can I try a business that can support my new lifestyle. So then my lifestyle came first now and I started looking for a different business model that could support my new phase of life. And that's when I stumbled upon self publishing. And the whole journey of publishing books began after that.
Kc Rossi 5:16
I love that I love that you tuned in. Was it challenging to give yourself permission to architect your life and business in a way that was going to work for you? Because of society's influence or other people's expectations?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 5:32
Yeah, initially, yeah, it was a challenge. But I think there was just one day when I was on this difficult client call. I mean, it was an important call. If that call went on, well, I can crack a big business deal. And my kid was crying from the other room. And that day, my babysitter did not show up. And I felt terrible. And I did not want it to feel so bad ever in my life, I had to shut ramming, I had to put down the call and go and attend to my kid. And I felt so guilty about myself. And I never wanted to feel guilty ever again. And that feeling was so strong, that I forgot about what the society would think, you know, because I decided to shut down a business. It was growing, I forgot about all that. And I started to look for opportunities to have a completely online business where nobody has my phone number. And I decide to schedule meetings with my clients, unlike people just calling me whenever they wanted. So all those things started becoming my priority. So I don't think it was very tough call because I didn't want to ever have that horrible feeling ever again.
Kc Rossi 6:31
That's amazing. There is such tremendous freedom and flexibility. When you are an entrepreneur, and you get to craft your own schedule. I know that you help purpose driven authors really bring their stories into the world. And I'm curious where that passion came from?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 6:47
It actually started with my first book. Initially, my business was very different, though it was into self publishing. Kc, I just wanted to make some money online, right? That was my goal. So when I started Googling, how do you make money online, the business model that I came across was very different. I would just find a ghostwriter to write these short ebooks, and I will publish them under pen names, I would pay those writers and I would keep all the royalties. So that was a nice passive income kind of a business. But six months later, I got the courage to write my own book. So when I wrote job escape plan, I was not a super successful entrepreneur. But I just thought that my story of how I quit my job, how I started different businesses, and finally found this business that was suitable to my lifestyle. I just wanted to share that story with the world. So when I wrote that book, it gave me a lot of visibility, people started inviting me to their podcast. And all of that happened. And all of a sudden, I got this idea of starting happy self publishing, because people started asking me if I can help them publish their books. So my book completely changed my life and open, you know, so many opportunities. And a year later, I helped my husband publish his book. He's a relationship coach. And he is dyslexic too, and he didn't want to write it on his own. So I helped him with the writing process. And he published his book called The Marriage mantra. And after that book got published, his coaching business went on to a different level. And since we saw that, you know, our lives have changed dramatically because of our books. And they these are not New York Times bestsellers, but they were still Amazon bestsellers, and it served its purpose. And that's when I felt that there are so many authors out there who have such beautiful life experiences to share through their books. So why not really focus on happy self publishing and help out all these aspiring authors. So that's the story.
Kc Rossi 8:35
I love it. That's awesome. How does having a published book, help an entrepreneur with their marketing and up leveling?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 8:45
It helps in so many levels. Initially, I used to think that, you know, your clients will come knocking on your door once they read your book, but it doesn't work that way. It works in two different ways, is what I've understood. Now, Kc, firstly, it works internally for the entrepreneur. So I still remember the sentence that my husband told me, because his book is directly connected to his business, right? So when he got his book, I asked him, How do you feel now, like, I thought, he'll be all excited on all that, but he was so calm. And he said that he feels so confident about his own expertise. Now, you know, something internally shifted for him. And he believes in his own skill now, more than ever, because now he could physically hold his expertise. And that confidence, made him really own that space and start promoting his business at a better level and attract higher quality clients. So I think that internal shift that the entrepreneur experiences is priceless. And secondly, now you can use your book to attract the kind of people you want into your business because when people read your book, they don't want to stop there. If your book has done a great job in creating that one important shift inside them, they want to now check out your social media profile. They want to check your website they want to see if you have a free webinar or some kind of podcast or something, and after following you for a while, they want to schedule a call with you and start working with you. So that has happened for so many of my clients, both the internal shift as well as clients, following them for a period of time and then starting to work with them.
Kc Rossi 10:17
That's incredible. And it really sounds like there's a lot of emotions when it comes to this process, one of that competence level that you're talking about for the internal shift for the author, like you said, that is absolutely priceless, because we know that our vibe attracts our tribe. So if you're on fire, if you're lit up, if you know that you've created this signature system that you've had the guts in the Moxie to pen a book, like I really feel that that changes your whole energetic system as well. Have you seen that in clients? Do you have a story that you can share of, of the transformation maybe an author had? Because I do feel, and I'd love your take on this Jotysna, is the fact that there's some insecurity and doubt when it comes to penning your own book, maybe some impostor syndrome, maybe what am I going to talk about? It's already been said before? Is it really going to have value? Am I going to fail? So when you have that mindset, or those kind of like, inner that inner dialogue going into it, I'd love it if you could share a story about somebody that maybe came into it. And then how did they come out the other side?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 11:24
Oh, yeah, sure. And this is something that's really common, because if somebody is an expert in their subject, they may not acknowledge it, but the world knows that they are an expert. And they become an expert, because they would have read a lot of books as well. And that itself could be the root cause of your imposter syndrome, because now you know, what's out there? And that may tell you that, who are you, you know, are you really as good as this number one person in your industry? So what I usually tell my clients when they come up with this question is that our job is not to look at people ahead of us, our job is to serve the people who are a few steps behind us. So when I wrote JavaScript plan, I was inspired by all these super successful entrepreneurs, but I knew that, you know, the, the, my neighbor may not read those books, but she will read my book, because I'm more relatable to her and not the number one best selling author. So there will always be somebody who gets attracted by your vibe. And our purpose is to serve those people who can feel connected to us. So I've had a client whom I had recently interviewed on my podcast. So we published his book a couple of years ago, at that time, he wanted to write a book on how can healthy people become more athletic and not just remain healthy alone. And his purpose was that he has been into fitness training for a long time. And that was just his hobby. He was a full time it employee. And he didn't want this hobby to just be his, you know, something that he kept to himself. He wanted to share his experiences with the world of how he transformed his body. And he wrote the book. And when he wrote the book, he just had it as a pet project. He it was not a full time thing. It was just his passion. But a few weeks later, he started having reviews coming up on Amazon, people writing to him asking for his coaching and support and recommendations and all of that. And now two years later, he has four different business verticals, everything related to fitness, you know, he does one on one coaching, he has a fitness app, he sells products, in collaboration with other fitness and health brands. So he felt so happy that he's finally leaving his IT job and go, he's going to fully focus on his fitness business. But before the book, none of this was in his mind. He just wrote it with the pure intention of serving a few people. But those few people asked him such good questions that it triggered his mind to actually start a business related to what he is passionate about.
Kc Rossi 13:54
That's incredible! It feels like a tool for uncovering what your destiny is, which is really exciting. You know, like, maybe you are in a "should" job, you know, something that's conventional, or something that's safe. And I think that many of us for a long time, I felt this too, in my early time was like, I need to be professional in my nine to five, that's my business life and then I'll be able to live in color and have my real life after. And I think that that's really shifted now where people are desiring that integrated approach. And it takes a lot of courage to jump into that. So I'm wondering if you have a tip for listeners that have an inkling to pen a book or to you know, even do something even on a smaller scale, but just get their voice out there. What do you find helps them dig deep and pull out that courageous attribute?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 14:52
I think this applies to a lot of things. Kc when I first you know, started speaking on stages, I used to be super scared. And one of my coaches, he told me this one thing he said, Stop thinking about yourself, you know, when you only think about how good you need to be onstage, you have this fear, because you want to look good, you want to speak fluently, you don't want to forget your lines, and it's all about you, you and you, you want to impress the crowd. So till the time you want to impress others, it's not going to help in the spirit is always going to be there. But flip that and start thinking of how can you help these people who want to learn from you. So instead of impressing trying, try to impact their lives through your message. So it's not about you, it's your message that needs to go to your audience, whether it's through your book, or through your speech, or through your business. And when you become a medium to just share this message. So it's not, it's no more about you, it's about helping others. And when you are in the mode of helping others you forget about all your weaknesses, you may be really bad at writing, you may have a lot of flaws, but you will find resources to help you with all of that. But when you focus on what you're not good at, you're going to have a laundry list of things, right. And that's going to stop you from truly, you know, being yourself and sharing your message. So just flip that switch, or we call it the "author switch" at my company. So when you turn on your "author switch," it's no more about you, it's about your reader.
Kc Rossi 16:18
That's really powerful. That could be a bumper sticker. I love it. It's a wonderful, wonderful mindset shift. And I can see where that would be very effective. For those that are interested in writing a book, could you just talk briefly about the advantages and disadvantages of self publishing?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 16:37
Yeah, so I feel that the first step is to get the book written. And a lot of people think about the publishing and all the complications related to publishing, and that stops them from writing the book in the first place. So first, get the manuscript written, let it be a very poorly written rough draft, it's okay. But first have the manuscript out there, once you finish writing, you have multiple options. Thanks to technology, we have so many options these days. So I am a personally, I'm a big advocate of self publishing, because it serves me and it helps so many of my clients. And that's why when I started my company, Happy Self Publishing. I wanted self publishing to be a part of my company's name, because I wanted not to be a traditional publishing house, but a company that just provides these professional services so that authors could self publish their books. And now I'll tell you the advantages. So if you're a first time author, probably you've just started your coaching business a couple of years ago, and now you are seeing that a lot of your clients want you to write a book, and you've taken that bold step of writing your book, then it's really important that you launch your book soon, and you hold the rights and the royalties in yourself. If you start looking at a traditional publishing house, it has a lengthy process, you need to first find a literary agent who is good, who can represent your work to all these publishing companies. And the chances of getting selected is like 1%, because they are only going to choose those authors whom they can put their money on, because they are going to be taking all the risk of publishing your book if you're traditionally getting published. So a safer bet would be publishing a celebrity's book, right, or an author who's already been a best seller. So why would they put their money on a first time author who nobody knows or who doesn't have an audience. So that's why the chances of getting selected is very less. So why spent a year or two trying that. And even if you do get accepted, it's going to take another couple of years to have the book published. So if you want to quickly publish a book, to grow your business, you don't want to wait another four years to actually hold the book in your hand. But if you self publish, and do it the right way, you can get it done in six months or less. So the time factor is critical. Secondly, you get to hold all the rights and the royalties as well. So if you're a smart entrepreneur, you want to invest in something and reap the benefits for the rest of your life. So if you have an entrepreneurial mindset, then you will get this. But otherwise, you know, typically people who don't have this mindset when somebody else to invest in your project, and are okay, if the publishing house keeps like 95% of the royalties and give you only the 5%. So these are some, you know, basic reasons why you would want to Self Publish versus wait for a publishing house to select and give you that stamp of approval.
Kc Rossi 19:19
Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. Thank you. Thank you for explaining that. Because I think it's, it's important to hear and it is that long process. And when you look at Hay House authors, for example, they typically are those really top influencers that already have six figure followings on social media. So it's like there is this built in guarantee that there's going to be an audience for the book when it comes out. On the creative side of things, I'm curious about your approach. So I have heard some author coaches that kind of advocate getting into that flow zone and possibly blocking out one a day or two days or a week to write that manuscript. And then I recently just heard an interview with Julia Cameron who's written 40 best selling books. And she talks about not wanting to strip her gears, and only writing three pages a day. And I know that everybody's unique, just as much as you know, our soul has a unique fingerprint. But I'm really curious, what method do you find most often helpful for writers?
Jyotsna Ramachandran 20:28
Yeah, this is such a great question. So when I started the business, Kc, we were only focusing on authors who came to us with a manuscript. But later, after publishing the husband's book, I realized most people are like him who have the book in their mind and heart but are not writing it. So that's when we started the coaching services also, so that we could coach them to write the book, or have an angel writer to write it for them. So if they're going to work with our coach, there are certain boundaries that we set so that the book doesn't take two years for the author to write. Right, if they're going to do that, they don't need a coach, they might as well take two years themselves and write it. So if they're working with a coach, I think for a good business book, it could be a self help, or a business book, it shouldn't take you more than three to six months to write your book, if you're totally committed to becoming an author. So that doesn't mean you have to write all day. So typically, what we advise our clients is to first get absolute clarity on the books topic, your your why, so your wife comes first, why are you writing this book, because if you have a strong y, then you will figure out the how. But so once they are clear about the why, and they are clear about who they are, right, who they are writing the book for their target readers, and the topic. And then comes the outline. So these are, this is what we focus the first one month on. So we don't let any of our authors start writing their books before they have clarity on their why their reader, the topic and the outline. Now once the outline is there, we have chapter wise outlines. So the author exactly knows what are what are the eight chapters in their book, and under each chapter, what are the various ideas and concepts and stories that they're going to cover? Once they have this level of clarity, the momentum automatic automatically picks up. And this is where we need to slightly customize the coaching because no two authors are the same. There are some authors who and their lifestyles are also different, right. So there are some people who have a busy nine to five job and they don't want to work right during the weekdays. And they are happy to carve out like six hours of time during the weekends. And that's fine. But there are some people who like to have that regular schedule, so they want to focus, they want to give one hour of their time every day for the book project. So what our coaches typically do is they ask our clients to focus on one chapter every week, write all the things that they can, in whichever style they want to, you know, whatever time of the day, and send whatever they have written at the end of the week. So our coach gets the time to review and prepare some feedback before the next call. And because we have this kind of a cycle, it's kind of accountability that the author has to finish one chapter every week. So at the end of a couple of months, they have most 80% of the manuscripts already written. And then they can focus on doing all the research and get the right color codes for the right chapters and all of that. But the mistake a lot of people make Kc is they tried to self edit while they're writing. And they try to pause and do the interviews and do all the research while they're writing. And that really takes a lot of time. And that's why they're not able to finish the book. Even after years, I feel personally that 80% of the manuscript is already in the author's head, and they just have to put it on the computer, the remaining 20% can be added after the first part is written.
Kc Rossi 23:35
That is brilliant. It's obviously a formula that works because you've helped people 400 different books get published and birthed into the world, which is absolutely incredible. Previous to this call, I was just enthralled with the number of testimonials that people would just had such an outpour of love and excitement and made me feel so good. You know, it was just really awesome witnessing this process and how many lives you're changing not only the authors that you've helped, but all the different people that now get to enjoy those words on paper. Like it's just this worldwide positive ripple effect, which is really, really exciting. I'm gonna put you on the spot. I hope it's okay. Prior to our call you were talking about listening to one of my podcast episodes, which is understanding the power of your deep why and you share that you listen to it with your team. And I'm wondering if you would be able to share what your Deep Why is with us? That would be so cool to hear.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 24:35
Yeah, I've got many layers of the whys. Can I share a few of them?
Kc Rossi 24:40
I would love that.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 24:43
Yeah! So one is to make my family really proud of me. That was one layer and I felt that PS should really, you know, make sure that happy self publishing keeps growing and as a result of that my family's really proud. The other deep why is that I felt, I feel really fulfilled when I use my, you know, divine gift, which is to help people, you know, structure, their divine gift, everybody has a gift inside them. But a lot of times they don't structure it. But when they write a book, they are forced to create a structure and using that they are going to impact so many lives. So I felt that by doing the work that I'm doing, I'm able to help other people recognize their divine gift and give it a structure so that they can create a bigger impact and this ripple effect that you said that something that I was able to connect to when I did that exercise. And the third thing that came to my mind is, without my knowledge, Kc today, my team is completely managed by women. And most of them are moms working from home. And I felt that by having a successful business of helping others publish their books, I'm also supporting the livelihoods of so many amazing people in my team. So I felt you know, so responsible and, you know, also grounded and privileged to be to be in a position to do that.
Kc Rossi 26:07
Incredible, incredible! And you can absolutely see how those would be rudders, you know, in the sea, whether it's a stormy day or calm, you know, smooth tranquil waters, I feel when we are tapped into that deep, why they really become our GPS. So thank you so much for sharing that. I know I put you on the spot.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 26:26
Not at all I'm so happy that I could share it with you because I learned from you.
Kc Rossi 26:30
That's awesome. You have shared so many amazing tips. I would love it if you wanted to let people know how they can enter into your world and get to learn more about you and Happy Self pPublishing.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 26:43
Yeah, I would love to point to two places. So those of you who are still thinking about a book project, but you've not really committed to it, that I would encourage you to check out my masterclass. Just go to www.happyselfpublishing.com/masterclass - that is specifically designed for busy entrepreneurs, to make sure that you finish writing your book. And the second option that I would give you all is if you are have already decided and made up your mind that you're going to become an author this year, then I would love to have a 30 minute book strategy call with you. So head over to www.happyselfpublishing.com/call and you can get on a call with me.
Kc Rossi 27:21
Incredible. Absolutely awesome. Jyotsna you are delightful. And I really say that right from my heart because there is this beautiful, light, bright energy from you. So clients are, I'm sure, privileged to work with you. And I thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us here today on the show.
Jyotsna Ramachandran 27:40
Thank you so much, Kc. It's my honor. Yes.
Kc Rossi 27:43
Until next time, my friend breathe joy.
Kc Rossi 27:45
I hope you enjoyed today's episode with Jyotsna. If you did, I would love it if you took a minute to head on over towww. lovethepodcast.com/brilliannce and leave a review for the show. It actually really helps promote the show & spread the message. It gives voices to all my wonderful guests. And it's just an awesome thing to do. So I really appreciate it.
Kc Rossi 28:08
I wanted to share some listener feedback from Pauline. She is also the author of The Spiritual Entrepreneur so very appropriate that this testimonial is being shared on Jyotsna's episode all about penny your own book. And Pauline says, "Well, that was fun. Thank you Kc for an exceptional interview. I loved my time with you. Your no BS approach meant for plenty of golden nuggets! Love, blessings, and gratitude. Pauline.
Kc Rossi 28:38
I will link the interview that I had with Pauline she is a firehouse of spiritual goodness and very smart business savvy. So if you've got some time, I would plug into that one right after this one. You will not be disappointed. Again. I would love it if you took a little minute to review the Women Developing Brillance® show at www.lovethepodcast.com/brilliance. Thank you!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
