#062: Michelle Hiskey on Helping College Applicants Write Their Essays

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey there. Thank you for joining me for episode 62 of the High Income Business Writing Podcast. My name is Ed Gandia and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to take their writing businesses to the six figure level or the part time equivalent. You can find detailed show notes of this episode by going to b2b launcher.com episode 62. You know, I recently got an email from one of my listeners, Michelle Hiskey, with a really interesting story and a business model and a target market that I hadn't seen before. And Michelle from focuses on helping college applicants. So high school students who are applying to colleges and she works with them to help them write their college application essay. Not only that, I love this because I never met anyone who does this kind of work, but she approaches her business a little differently, her coaching business with these students, and she does something very unique in terms of giving that to the community. So I asked Michelle if she'd be willing to come on the show. She was very gracious, very generous. We recently sat down, did this interview and I'm very happy to share it with you. In this talk, Michelle explains what this type of writing or really writing coaching is all about, what what's involved in working with college applicants, what she charges for this sort of coaching work, how she approaches her business, and what type of writer or coach the specialty is well suited for. She also again talks about how she's giving back to her community. And I love the way she does it because she is doing it in a more creative and meaningful way. And specifically she's working with disadvantaged students to help them with their writing. But I just love the way she's doing it. So today's interview is a little bit different from what we typically talk about here and do. But I was just fascinated by what Michelle does and I found this to be an inspiring and fascinating conversation. It's perfect if you're exploring different ideas or business models and if you're just interested in what coaches in this industry do, which is kind of a unique niche or target market. So anyway, let's get right to it. Hey, Michelle, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on.

Oh, you're welcome, Ed. I'm glad to do it.

So, you know, I always start by asking guests to tell us a little bit about themselves and this is no exception. So for listeners who don't know you, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background, the work you do today, how you got here, all that good stuff.

Okay. Well, my name is Michelle Hiskey. I live in Decatur, Georgia. I'm a freelancer and I'm also a full time writer. I have a full time job as well. I started in high school, which was a long time ago now, as a stringer for my local newspaper. So that was a form of freelancing. And I stayed in journalism until 2008. So I was there. Let me think. I don't want to do the math.

Five years, right?

Yes, it's Atlanta Journal Constitution. Right. I was a staff writer and columnist and work on special projects at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. A team that I was on was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news one year. And then like a lot of newspapers, there was a buyout, you know, cutbacks. And so I took a buyout and I left to kind of reinvent myself and freelance full time for a while. And now I've got a job I really enjoy that's near my home. I work at Emory University, which is a top 20 research institution university. And I am in development communications. I'm a senior editor and I support fundraising and stewardship in particular. So unlike journalism, which is a tough place to make your living right now as a writer, fundraising is a really good place to make your living as a writer. There's a lot of job security, as you and I were just talking about. So I still freelance. I have two teenagers.

That right there is a full time job.

Yeah, but also. You mean just that we have a family of four. My husband's also a recovering journalist. So we're, you know, we're scrappy. We're scrappy people. I try to make our ends meet. So I look for different ways to freelance. And I just always really loved writing. I've been very blessed to make a living at it. So I feel like I'm connected to your group and your network through that because that's how we make a living as freelancers. If we weren't passionate, it would be too hard of a job.

So let's talk a little bit about your freelance work because some of the things you do, it sounds like you do a variety of things, but the one that you and I connected about was helping college applicants write their essays and tell their stories. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that business and especially what's involved, the work you do, how you work with a client, that sort of thing.

Okay. So That's a lot. So I'll try to break it down maybe first I'll tell you how I got into it.

Yeah, let's start there.

I did not know that this existed until. And I think the lesson here is to pay attention to what people ask you as a writer. And a friend of mine at my church asked me to help him with his father's obituary. And it was a real quick thing. It was like, look at his obit. And I gave him some feedback and he really appreciated it. A couple months later he came up to me and said, look, I've got. My oldest daughter is going into her senior year in high school. And when I was her age, my parents got a coach for me to help me with my essays. And I'm wondering if you would be that coach for my daughter. So I was like, sure. You know, I usually say yes and then I figure it out.

That's a good habit, right?

And so that first time was about four years ago. And I love working with teenagers. I was in a really good position to say yes because I had been a long time volunteer at Vox Communications, which is a teenager, a newspaper buying for teenagers in Atlanta. So this was not foreign to me or intimidating. I had worked with a lot of students in the summers with their writing and first person writing. What I needed to find out more was what the parameters were for a college essay, because they're different for a college essay than they are for a newspaper essay. So. So anyway, the point of this is there is a big need out there. And what I've gone on to find out about this market is that it's very seasonal. It's in the fall, it will extend until it will start in the summer. As high school juniors realize, holy crap, I've got a ton of stuff I've got to do my senior year. And this is the top of my list is trying to get into college and I've got to write this essay that could make or break me in that. And why do I say that? Why would it make or break them? Because they all have a great resume. Most of them have a great resume. They may or may not have great test scores. They will most likely have very high hopes of getting into a great university in the mix of all that. And this is something I know more anecdotally than anything the admissions people who read all of these essays. An essay can make a huge difference in whether or not you are accepted if you look at a pool of applicants to a university generally. And again, this is anecdotally but if you ask people in admissions, I think you will find this to be true. There's probably going to be about 15% of the students who are a shoe in for that university. So they're at the top end of the scale. There's 15% that it doesn't really matter how great their essay is. They're not going to get it because their qualifications otherwise are not very good. So that leaves a 70% middle in which they're going to choose most of the class from that middle. Those essays are going to be very important. And so they're going to. This essay is set up to distinguish the student. It's unlike other writing that the students have done, because in high school and in their other, you know, in their education, a lot of writing has to do with being alike, being what the teacher wants. This is not that. This is not being what they want. They want to see how you're thinking. They want to see what you're made out of. They want to see something that distinguishes you from the rest of the applicant pool.

Here's what I'm wondering, right? I remember writing these essays when I was applying to schools. No coach, just me. And you know what? Now that I think back, I think this is the first experience that I had with writing something significant. I had written papers for school and all that, but I barely got by. I'm not a natural born writer, if there is such a thing. And I was under the impression that, yes, it is important. It's very important, as you stated. But you're supposed to be doing all this on your own. So I'm curious as to what are the rules or how much involvement can you really have when you're working with a student to tell their story?

Well, right, you know, that's a good point. And it's, you know, when they sign their application, they're signing that they've done all this work on their own. It has to be their essay. So that is something you have to keep in mind. You can't ghost write it for them. Although I think that there are services out there that will. Basically, you can buy an essay because there's a service for everything like that.

Yeah.

But the coaching is to help them come to the decisions along the way that they're going to have to decide on. And so that may sound like a fine line, but, you know, I will meet with them and it depends on what questions they have, like any coach in any sport. Because a lot of these students, they've come to me, they've usually had parents who have given them a lot of resources or they have resources because they're going to pay me to help them. So usually they've had tutors or they've had coaches of other sports, that kind of thing. And I'll say, well, I'm going to be like your other coaches and I'm going to help you in what you want me to help you with. And the work that you're going to do is going to make the product. If you're not willing to work at it, it's not going to be very good. But if you're willing to work at it, it will be better than what you could do without a coach. So, so the question. So I say, you have to drive this. You have to tell me how to help you. And so, you know, sometimes the parents get involved with that on the front end. That's a whole other part of this. But I find that either there's some pretty typical questions on the front end, which is, I have five things I want to write about. Which do you think is the strongest? Which can you help me figure out how I would, you know, which one of these will make. Which one of these topics will make the biggest difference in my essay? So we talk about that and I give them my feedback, but it's still their choice. Okay, so it's like I'm, I'm like the movie reviewer, right? You can decide to go to the movie or not, but, you know, I'm. I'm going to offer my opinion.

Well, let me backtrack real quick. What is the question that the application usually asks to set up the essay?

Okay, so the Common application, and this is important for us who are older and didn't have this when we were in college. The Common application is, as it sounds, the Common app, where if you're going to go to, I would say most colleges in the United States, you're going to fill out the Common app. The Common app is something you file electronically and includes an essay of 600. I think it's 650 words or less. And there's five prompts. And you pick one of the five prompts.

Okay, and what are the prompts?

I can send you those, but generally like one is, is there a story that is so significant to you that to understanding who you are, that you. That we need to know about it? Okay, so that's pretty general. One is failure. Tell us about a time that you failed and how that changed you. And I'm paraphrasing here but one is.

By the way, if you send that to me, I'll include it in the show notes.

Sure. Okay. One is tell us about a time when you had a rite of passage, either religious or communal family, that kind of thing. A really challenging one. And it may not sound this way, but one is describe a place where you are perfectly content.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. And then there's one other. And I'll think of it in a second. But anyway, so they respond to one of those. But sometimes they have a. They have something that a student will have, something that he or she wants to write and doesn't know where it would fit in to one of those prompts. And so we'll talk about that and I'll make suggestions of, well, you might think about this, you might think about that, you might think about the other thing and give them different. We talk about mapping usually in the beginning. Can I help you build a map to where you need to go for this? Give them other resources. I think a good essay is either narrative or it has narrative pieces to it. And sometimes they have not written in that way. So we talk about having a beginning, a middle and end, starting in the middle of an action that is significant or a point of conflict or peril to grab the reader's attention. And you really want to have a strong beginning because it's like other pieces of writing. If you're going to catch somebody's attention, you can't think that they're going to give you that in the fifth or sixth paragraph. It has to be in the beginning.

Sure, sure. So, yeah, the standard rules apply here as well. Right. To just anything else. So walk us through a typical engagement. You've kind of started that by telling us how, you know, the first conversation or what you guys talk through, what happens from there?

Well, it's actually before that, I get most of my clients word of mouth and I can tell you a little bit more about marketing. So somebody will contact me, usually the mom, sometimes the dad, sometimes the student. And they'll say, I need some help. Tell me how this works. And I'll say, and so then I send them kind of a boilerplate along with a questionnaire. And. And the questionnaire, I continue to refine it, but it's basically a quick thing about what they're thinking about writing about, if they have a timeline that they're trying to adhere to. Because sometimes the coaching involves project management, sort of, you know, like to say, oh, do you need me to remind you on Friday that you need to have this Draft done and so that could be part of it. And then it's also, I've got some questions in there about learning styles. So if this person learns best visually, if they learn best by. Because, you know, I'm not editing a peer, I'm working with an 18 year old. So I don't, and I don't want to assume that I know what, you know, how they learn. They all learn really differently. And so I try to adapt to that and I usually. So they can look, they get a look at that, they can keep the questionnaire. I said, you know what, that can help you focus even if you don't use my services. And if you do, why don't we set up an hour interview, sort of interview session, face to face to talk and see if we click. And it's only until after that that I would start kind of billing. Because I'm not primarily in this to make money. I'm in it. I mean, I want to make money, but I want to help them. And they are sort of a vulnerable population. I don't want to ever feel like they're not getting some value for it because I feel like it would be sort of preying on kids and I wouldn't want to do that. So I always tell the parents, look, if we click, great, we'll go on. I'll keep an invoice open. If we don't click, that's fine. I just wish you the best in this college application thing because it's really tough. It's a really tough time for them. They're under a lot of pressure and if I can help them, great. That attitude, I think has served me well because I think it helps them understand where I'm coming from, that I'm not trying to, I'm trying to be a support person.

Sure, sure. So then you're dealing with, like you said, you're dealing with an 18 year old. This is not a corporate marketer where you know, you're gonna have to be a little bit more stricter about, you know, that initial time. So you want to make sure that there's. You guys click and then what happens? So let's say that they want to move forward. What are the next steps?

So what we do is I usually meet them at a coffee shop. I try not to meet them in their home. I try not to meet them with their parent, although I want to meet their parent. So often I'll meet the parent at the beginning, but it's never that helpful to have the parent there at the Time. It's kind of like an interview. Like, you know, you don't want the PR person there when you're doing an interview. And often the students. The reason why the coaching is important is because the students want to write about the family. You know, they want to write about their parents or something. And so, you know, the coach is a impartial third party. So what I'm looking for in the initial interview is a sense of what they want to do, what their struggles are, and when do I. I'm listening. I'm going to be listening almost, I would say, 85% of that time. And I'm just listening to what they're saying and kind of. I'm looking for sparks of when they're excited about what they're talking about. And if they're not, exc. I will ask questions until I get them to a place where, just like an interview, like, where they are. They are telling me a story that's interesting. They all have interesting lives. They just don't see it that way. And especially the ones who struggle to write and struggle to tell their story. It's just, you know, coffee shop is a relaxed place to just sort of get to know one another and to have them know that I have their back.

Gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. So this is typically about an hour conversation. Very casual.

Yeah, it's really hard to be more than that. Yeah, very casual. I don't dress up.

And then let's say that they want to go ahead and move forward. So what do you do from here in terms of. Have you quoted a range at this point? Do you have packages where people know ahead of time what they're getting into?

Yeah, I do at this point. Like, when I send them the questionnaire, I send them pricing as well. And so generally. And, you know, we're in the metro Atlanta area, so I tried to price this according to, like, a tutoring rate or the high end of a tutoring rate. And so hourly, it's $75 an hour.

Okay.

But if they. If they think that they're going to 10 hours, they can pay for that upfront for $500. And the reason why it would be 10 hours, that seems like a lot. I know some of the students, including the first one that I coached, were applying to a lot of colleges, and many colleges require a supplemental essay. So those are shorter essays, but they're equally, maybe even more important than the common app essay because you're writing directly to maybe the college that you most want to go To.

Okay, so yeah, there's going to be, this is a little bit more involved and more sessions and. But by the way, after that first session, is everything done over the phone or are you still meeting with students?

No, most of the time they're too busy and I'm too busy. So we are online, we're on a Google Docs. It depends on what they want on Google Docs, where we share attachments, you know, track changes, docs, that kind of thing. And so if they want to go forward from the first, from the first meeting, what will happen is we'll have some kind of game plan, you know, we'll have some kind of like, okay, so what are you going to do next and what do you want me to do? So it's client driven and you know, it just varies. It's very customized and that's one reason why it's hard to do in a group. Like, I've thought about doing like a small group and having a group rate, but everyone's essay is so different and you really don't want to. Even though there's some, there's some tools that help everybody, unless you really hear their story and can coach them through, doesn't really work in a group.

Everyone's on a different track, very different path. I can see that. Right. You're creating a custom product. Exactly. And it sounds like because it's client driven, you're not walking them through a series of very specific steps. So you're not telling them, okay, here's what you need to do. First, you need to narrow this down to this. And then you need to mind map. Right. The main point. So you're working with them. It's a custom arrangement, engagement. Right.

Correct.

And so really there's no point of asking you about that. It just depends. You, you work with the student based on where they are, their skill level. And I'm sure. Have you worked with people who are very, very good writers and then some who are, I mean, it's just, it's painful.

Yes, absolutely. It's very. Like last night I was working on, I was working with a student who is, I mean, she is really brilliant and she's a very passionate writer. She has an essay that's 1300 words, you know, and I think she's probably in love with 95% of it. And there's no way that all of that's going to get in and it doesn't need to get in. And so it's identifying at that point, it's identifying places that you Know like, okay, what is. Here, let me give you a read back on this. This is what it's about. Can you pull down, you know, can you take out. Can you get to the essence of this in 650 words? Here's some places you might look at that don't seem to be working for you. That's the kind of thing that's really hard for any writer to do on his or her own.

I think that applies to a lot of types of coaching, doesn't it?

Yeah.

What about the writer who's on the other end of the scale? And I mean, they can't even string words together. What do you do there?

So I had a student like that this year who. She's just like, you know, I just have a really hard time. And so then when we got together, she's amazing orally, like, she just told me these amazing stories. And she is a soccer goalie. And as you can imagine, that's a certain personality to be a soccer goalie. And so, so we talked about overall theme and I said, part of the coaching is helping them see the forest for the trees. You know what I mean? Like, we all do, like when we're dumping on our best friend and they'll say, well, it sounds to me like blah. And you go, oh, yeah. And so that's what the coaching is really is to say, well, here's what I think what I hear is your strongest story for her. I basically set up a grid. I helped her set up a grid to say, okay, in these three examples that she wanted to use, what was happening before, what happened during the example, what led up to it, what happened during it, and what she learned from it. And so when she looked at it as a grid, all she had to do was fill in some bullet points right in the grid. And then, so then we got back together because she's a person who likes to meet in person. And it was so funny because she's like, okay, so where do you think it should start? And that's what I'm really worried, you know, but she was really into it. It was so fun to see her. Like, this was a different way of doing things for her. And I said, okay, well, let's. This is kind of my go to thing, which is I said, let's think about the place where you are most tested. And she's like, oh, that would be easy. That would be this, you know, this anecdote, this experience. And I said, okay, let's start a little before that. In other words, let's start the story a little bit before the biggest crisis. And that's, you know, I'm sure there's other narrative writers who are going to listen to this podcast who would say, oh, yeah, that's sort of a concrete tool. And then I said, so you're now in this part of your grid, and you have some suspense in your story because you don't know how this is going to end. You can stop it. And then you can start with kind of your nut paragraph, you know, your. Your theme paragraph. And you've got the reader on the hook. And she's like, oh, I really like that. And then she goes, and then I'll go to this example. And I said, yeah, then I'll go to this example. I'm like, yeah. She goes, now do you think I should go back to the beginning? I'm like, yeah. And so she was basically getting it, because I think we're all wired on some level, you know, we're all wired to tell a story. And that story. That's what this is.

You're leading them, right? You're leading them. You're helping them see this. You're not telling them what to do. And I think that's brilliant because that's going to be the most effective coaching.

Well, right? And it's also like, you know, this is their. What makes this fun for me is that this is their threshold into adulthood, and they need to know that they have the tools within them to go into the next place. And I'm not their parent. I am a supportive adult. But. And it's also a little bit of. It's not just about writing. It's also about helping them see that they have a really significant story because they will all go from being the big fish in the little pond to being the little fish in the big pond. And that's a really hard thing, you know, for them, psychologically. They've got to learn to get to be on their own. For some, that's harder than others. And so I'm not trying to be. I'm not trying to be, like, on the couch, you know, with them. I just know that it is fulfilling for me to sort of be a cheerleader at that point, you know, coach and cheerleader, because I think that they really have it, you know.

So that's a good segue into my next question, which is, if somebody's out there and this is resonating with them because they know they have these skills, they know they would love to work with students in this capacity, you know, what would you tell them? Who is this for? What type of writer is this for? What type of person is this not for?

Well, you have to be very patient if you do anything with teenagers. You just have to understand their executive function is not fully formed. There's a reason why, you know, you don't get to rental car until you're 25. You know, I mean, it's like. It's just. It can be all over the map. They will tell you they'll do something. They won't do it, or they'll. I will be very busy. Let me put it this way. I will be very busy before October 15, November 1, and November 15, because those are the deadlines for most of these essays, and they will leave it to the last minute. I think the person who would be good at it would be a really good listener, would not be afraid to be honest because you do have to tell them. Look, don't. Seriously, do not write about your mission trip. Do you know how many people write about their mission trip? Like, you just have to give it to them, be straight. And you have to be able to negotiate with parents and realize, like, you know, just be a really direct communicator all around. I try to be just really direct and not be stressed by that. So, you know, I think it is pretty stressful for some people, you know, to like, maybe you're stressed out enough with your own family dynamic and you don't want to get into somebody else's. This is not for you. And I guess that's about helps if you also need to be the kind of person. And this, I think, is really hard for writers. You don't line edit. You don't say, this is how I would write it. You have to put that in something more concrete, like, hey, this will be better if it's not. If it is the active voice, this is going to be better, if you know what I mean. Like, you have to give the suggestion. You can't say you have to do this.

Well, I agree, because then you're preaching at that point. That could backfire, Right? So you're doing something unique with this business that I'd like for you to share with us. You're taking a portion of your profits and you're donating it to a nonprofit. So tell us a little bit about that.

Oh, yeah. I love this, and it really helps me feel really passionate about. I mean, I know that I would love essay coaching anyway. It's actually something that I love to do so much. I wish I could do it all the time. So I'm just a believer in that. You know, we're all. We all are really blessed in this country, you know, and if we're. Especially if we're working. And I've had low times and high times with writing, but when I started this, I thought, you know, I know that there is a really significant population of kids in Atlanta who are. Who don't. Who don't have these opportunities to have a coach to maybe even know about the college application process. And one place that's helping connect them to a lot of resources is box Communications. And that's where I had mentored for a long time. And I know anybody who's volunteered for a nonprofit knows that there's really no substitute for cold, hard cash and helping them keep going. So I thought, I'm going to give a percentage of. And I put this on the bottom the of the invoice as a reminder. But I also say this up front for people who contact me about coaching. I'll say, look, I really want you to know about this nonprofit, and I support them. So you're going to be supporting them by hiring me. And I don't necessarily think. I don't think anybody has contacted me because of that, but most of the time they go, oh, that's pretty cool. And, you know, because I say, you know, I'm going to be helping your child write their essays, and this nonprofit is going to be helping other. Teach other teenagers how to tell their stories. And I don't think there's really anything more important than teaching somebody how to tell their story.

Oh, yeah, that's fantastic. And you know what I love about what you're doing there is? Well, number one, you're passionate about it. Number two, you're doing it because of that. You're not doing it as a marketing tactic. I love that it's tied to what you do, and I love that it's tied to the work you're doing with these kids.

Right. Right. It's not like I'm giving 10% to cancer research, although that would be a great thing. I also support cancer research, but this isn't about cancer. This is about writing.

Yeah. In a way, it's almost like it multiplies. It's like the multiplying of the loaves. Right. So you hire me to help you, and at the same time, you're helping another kid indirectly.

Right. And so. So I was trying to spread this recently because I think that a lot. I mean, freelancing is really, really hard. Don't get me wrong, but I also think that you have to think differently and you have to give. Sometimes you just have to jump, right? And not know if you're going to get rewarded for it. Anyway, I call this my Vox Lance income because it's that freelance, you know, it's VOX lance because I give part of it to vox. And so I was on Facebook and I noticed that VOX had, they had persuaded Jim Burris to become one of their mentors. And Jim Burris, for those of you not in Atlanta, is a terrific radio journalist who is on our National Public Radio station here. And I was floored because Jim Burris is just fabulous and here he is now helping these kids at vox. And so I put that on my Facebook page and I said, I'm going to up my Vox Lance percentage because I am so fired up about Jim Burris. And so a lot of people saw that. And it's kind of a challenge, you know, it's kind of a challenge to say, hey, what are you doing? How are you giving back? Because this is really giving back to our industry. This Vox is journalism. Not all the kids go into journalism. Some of them go into doing some much more amazing things in journalism. But everyone can benefit from writing. And I think it's up to us as people who we've all been mentored by people, is to not just give back as a mentor, but give back some of what we're getting for our skills.

Well said. I couldn't agree more. I think that's what really one of the blessings of being a freelancer is that I mean, anyone can do this, right? You don't necessarily need to be self employed, but I think it really opens up your mind to the possibilities. And I've noticed that self employed people tend to be much more open minded, more receptive to those kinds of ideas. So this is why I love entrepreneurship, period. Because I think entrepreneurs tend to change the world in more ways than one. This is a perfect example. So wrapping up, if someone's listening right now and they're interested in exploring this, how would you suggest they get started? I mean, not a whole plan, but what would be a good first step?

Right. Well, you need to find a way into the network of high school seniors. So if you know any teachers on the high school level, a guidance counselor, Sunday school teacher, a neighbor, somebody who knows and trusts you because you know you're not going to be a stalker, you're going to be a trusted adult, find out. Or it could be an after school program, it could be A place that helps. In fact, a really good place would be to start as a volunteer, like with VOX only, maybe a program that helps kids. I'd look for low income, high achiever students get into college. And I don't have any off the top of my head. But there are more and more places that are helping students like this because so many more colleges are offering them scholarships. Go to a volunteer at a place like that and say, you know, I am specific. I'm a writer, I'm an editor. I'm specifically interested in sharing my professional skills to help with college essays. And that will get you in a pipeline. It'll show you what you're working with. And without too much risk, you can, you can find out, you can practice to see if this is for you, if you like communicating with the students, if you like the work, if it's satisfying. And then once you have that under your belt, maybe for one fall, like one application season, you can decide, hey, I'm ready to go out and do this. And then you could probably get testimonials from the students and their parents that will help you go forward. And then you need to work the network and work that back to like their, their high school counselor. And I found, I found that a good way of marketing can be through the school's auctions. Most of them have auctions for their, for fundraising. And so I always put like a two hour package in there.

Oh, that's a great idea.

Yeah, because it's like, it's like, you know, then your item goes out, you know, your service goes out to that whole network. And even if they don't buy it, they know you're out there. And if you keep doing it at different schools in the areas that you want to work, they all know, and it's a pretty specific. There's just not a lot of competition and it's very seasonal. So. And then two hours, a lot of times people are like, if there are students struggling in two hours is not very much. You know, they'll be like, oh, can you work with them some more? And you can also do it like, I have a student in North Carolina, had another student in New York. You know, I have another one in Philadelphia. You know, you can do everything, you know, at a distance too.

So I figured that, I meant to ask you that earlier. It sounded like most of your students are local, but I figured, well, if you can easily replicate that distance, so you won't have the, you know, personal interaction. But I mean, these days people are kind of used to this. So. Well, this. This has been fantastic, Inspiring. I love this. I love what you're doing. I can sense the passion in your voice.

Oh, good.

I can tell you're doing what you're put on this earth to do, and I think that's wonderful. I'm always inspired by people who are doing just that. So before we wrap up, where can listeners learn more about you? Where can they learn more about Vox Communications?

Okay. They have a long website, voxteencommunications.org V O X T E E N C O M M U N I C A T O r C T I O N S r my email, you're free to reach out to me is Michelle M I C H E L L e dot HISKEY H I S K E Y mail. And yeah, I'd be glad to share information. I also wanted to add that usually in December and February are when the students find out where they got in. And that's also really exciting.

Oh, I bet you get all kinds of emails, right? Happy emails.

No, it's terrible. They don't. I have to text them and say, okay, that's right.

They're not.

They forget me. They're like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Thanks. You know, because it's all about their follow through.

Right.

This is the millennial generation. That's another thing. Read up on Millennials before you go there, because you're going to need to know what you're up against when you do this kind of work.

Well, Michelle, thanks so much for sharing so much with us today. Love to hear your story and appreciate coming on the show.

Okay, you bet.

All right, Well, I hope you enjoyed that interview. Again, it's a little bit different from what we typically talk about here in this show, but, you know, I was really inspired by what Michelle is doing, the way she's approaching, approaching it. And I'm just a naturally curious person. So I was just curious as to what it takes, you know, what it takes to work with high school students who are trying to get into college and work with them through this process of creating their essay, which is such an important piece of the application process. If you are doing something different, something unique, if you have a success story you'd like to share with the writing community, I'd love to hear from you. In fact, that's how Michelle contacted me. I made the call a couple of months ago, and she reached out to me with, with. With this idea. Not everything's a fit, but you know what? Tell me about, tell me about your idea. Tell me about what you're doing. Tell me about your business. Let's talk through it and I'll let you know if it would be a good fit for the show. So you can always meet Email me with ideas, with thoughts at edblauncher. Would love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd be so grateful if you shared it with friends. And the best way to do that is through the social media sharing buttons that you'll see on the show notes page. And if you feel compelled to do so, I'd love to get a quick star rating or review on itunes. I've made it really easy, created a page that takes you straight to your itunes, the itunes page for the show. Bwlauncher.com so that brings us to the end of the episode. Again, I am your host, Ed Gandia. Thank you for listening and I hope you have an awesome day. The High Income Business Writing Podcast is a production of B2B business launcher. Learn more at B2B launcher.com.

Helping them keep going. So I thought, you know, I'm going to give a percentage of and I put this on the bottom of the invoice as a reminder. But I also say this up front for people who contact me about coaching. I'll say, look, I really want you to know about this nonprofit, and I support them. So you're going to be supporting them by hiring me. And I don't necessarily think, I don't think anybody has contacted me because of that, but most of the time they go, oh, that's pretty cool. Because I say, I'm going to be helping your child write their essays. And this nonprofit is going to be helping teach other teenagers how to tell their stories. And I don't think there's really anything more important than teaching somebody how to tell their story.

Oh, yeah, that's fantastic. And you know what I love about what you're doing there is? Well, number one, you're passionate about it. Number two, you're doing it because of that. You're not doing it as a marketing tactic. I love that it's tied to what you do, and I love that it's tied to the work you're doing with these kids.

Right, right, right. It's not like I'm giving 10% to cancer research, although that would be a great thing. I also support cancer research, but this is a about cancer. This is about writing.

Yeah. In a way, it's almost like it multiplies. It's like the multiplying of the loaves. Right. So you hire me to help you, and at the same time, you're helping another kid and directly.

Right? And so I was trying to spread this recently because I think that a lot. I mean, freelancing is really, really hard, don't get me wrong. But I also think that you have to. You have to think differently and you have to give. Sometimes you just have to, like, jump, right? And not know if you're going to get rewarded for it. Anyway, I call this my Vox Lance income, because it's that freelance, you know, it's VOX Lance because I give part of it to vox. And so, so I was on Facebook and I noticed that VOX had. They had persuaded Jim Burris to become one of their mentors. And Jim Burris, for those of you not in Atlanta, is a terrific radio journalist who is on our National Public Radio station here. And I was floored because Jim Burris is just fabulous. And here he is now helping these kids at vox. And. And so I put that on my Facebook page and I said, I'm going to up my Vox Lance percentage because I am so fired up about Jim Burris. And so a lot of people saw that. And it's kind of a challenge. It's kind of a challenge to say, hey, what are you doing? How are you giving back? Because this is really giving back to our industry. This is. This VOX is journalism. Not all the kids go into journalism. Some of them go into doing some much more.