#019 - Keep It Simple

Welcome back to the Hit Splits. And in this episode, I just wanted to encourage you to keep it simple. Oh my goodness, everything is shouting at us everywhere to do this thing and this next thing and, and I have to admit, I even sometimes get caught up in it. And recently I purchased several trainings that I actually did go through them. And yet it's not something that I'm going to be implementing because I can keep it simple. I don't need to over complicate it. And it's related to marketing and collaborations and all those things. And I just think sometimes we have to take a deep breath, take a few steps back and say, okay, what's going to work best for my personality, for my audience, and what have I seen work well in the past? When, when you're looking at marketing, if you want some help with this, my book promotion plan workshop will walk you through all of this and it gives you 27 book marketing ideas. And I just really help you prioritize and really help you decide what's gonna be best to start with. And so that's available in Christian Book Academy in our Marketing workshops module, or it's also available in thebookmarketingshop.com but, but I just really think that my theme for 2023 is going to be keep it simple.

I am a creative, multi, passionate entrepreneur and it is so easy for me to take something that can be simple and just overcomplicate it for our business. I just, I have a habit of doing that.

And so I want to encourage you also, what can you do to simplify things so that you're getting the same or even better results with less time, with less energy and so that you can keep doing the things that God has called you to do. This week I published a podcast episode and it was all about publishing short Kindle books. And so if you're in the writing or publishing phase, there may be something that can spark, you know, an idea for you in that episode. It's episode 354 on the Kingdom Writers Podcast. But sometimes when you're, especially if it's your first book, it is so easy to just wanna dive in and do this huge project, this big, complicated, long project for your first time, get stuck in all of the decisions, all of the things, and then never reach the finish line. And so this week I had one of our Christian Book Academy members shared that she had listened to that podcast and she said, you know, she had been stuck and she had been in a place where she wasn't moving forward and through that podcast, she was inspired and motivated, and God gave her ideas to repurpose material she already has. And she says, because of your awesome podcast, I was inspired to repurpose some journal entries. It also sparked some personal experiences that I was able to write about that I hadn't before. And altogether, I came up with five to seven different life experiences that I could turn into a Kindle book on God's grace. And she even in just this one week during our 15 minute writing challenge in Christian Book Academy, we do this every month, just, you know, encourage you to write at least 15 minutes a day. She's already at 202,500 words. It's. And she says it's still a work in progress. Of course it is. But what she did was she simplified the whole process and was like, okay, Lord, what is it that I already have? What is. What are some content that I can repurpose? And she said, you know, I got a lot of things that had been in my head and deep in my heart out onto paper. I'd been experiencing a serious mental block. However, your Anointed podcast opened up a writing wellspring. So, anyways, I just want to say, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, go check it out and see if it inspires you to maybe start simpler right now with the book you're working on. And you can always add more later. When you're self publishing, you always can. You know, you can make it a series, you can make a second edition. You can. I mean, there are so many options, but sometimes you just need to keep it simple, get it out there, get some feedback and see where you're going. So that's episode 354 on the Kingdom Writers Podcast. But if you're in marketing, again, like, that's where I'm at. And it is so easy to just get pulled in by all the things. So first of all, unsubscribe from anything that is not currently serving you. Even if the person is someone that you like, you value, you really like their content. And I had to do that today because I get tempted to buy all the things and then, you know, to get distracted. And My theme for 2022 is Stay the course, which I still need to do that for 2023, but I'm going to combine that stay the course with keep it simple. So how can I stay the course and what I feel God's, you know, called us to do in a simple way, you know, and how can you simplify what you're Doing like. So as we're nearing the end of 2022, look back. What really was effective for you with marketing? What really worked? Write those things down. What did you put a lot of time into that didn't really work? Like, for me right now, it's social media. And I'm really hoping in 2023 to really remove myself even more from social media and really invest deeper into a few people. So right now we have about a hundred people listening to this hit splits pod. So you're my people, you know, and I want to go deeper with you. I want to go deeper with my Christian Book Academy members. I want to go deeper with a few people instead of, you know, sharing with thousands and thousands and then Facebook deciding who gets to. To hear my. See my posts or read my posts or, you know, all the things. So anyways, keep it simple. What is it that's worked? What is it that hasn't? And then pray and ask the Lord, what is. What do you have for me this next year? And how can I simplify it? How can I keep it simple? So this is an ongoing challenge for me. I. I think this really will be my theme for 2023. I'll. I'm gonna keep praying into it the next couple weeks, but I encourage you, take a deep breath. You know, it can be fun, it can be easy. It can be simpler than a lot of times we make it. So just take a few steps back and ask the Lord, is there anything that I'm doing right now where I can simplify? And it may not even relate to your writing, publishing, and marketing. Maybe it's something related to how you manage your household or all the things that you're doing at home or how you're. You're volunteering or whatever. Keep it simple. It just. When I. When I think about that, it's like, yes, that's what I want. I want something that's effective, that's powerful, but that's simple. And I really do believe that that's possible. So I. I'm sure I'll keep sharing on this, about this as I, As I, you know, go on this journey as well. But I have to keep reigning myself in. Shelly, quit buying all the. The things, all the, you know, all the trainings and the right. Shiny object syndrome. Right? Like, just do what you know works and just keep doing that. Go deeper with those that are listening and provide value in the ways that works best for you. So, anyways, I am so glad that you're here. Let me just pray. Lord, thank you so much that you give us insight and we don't have to do all of these complicated things in order to be effective for your kingdom, in order to see lives changed, in order to see our books released into the world, and in order to, to really reach our target readers and audiences with our message. You have a way for each one of us and it's going to look different for every single one of us depending on our personalities, our gifts, depending on our audience, depending on, you know, our, the message that we have. And so I pray you would lead and guide each and every single one of us in exactly what you have for us in 2023. And I pray that if, if there's a way that we need to simplify that you would even just prick our hearts right now and show us what it is that we can do to be even more effective for your kingdom in 2023 with even less time and energy and the 20% that's producing 80% of the results and, and, and follow you every step of the way. So I thank you for this. I pray breakthrough for those that are listening right now. In Jesus name, amen. All right friends, if you are getting ideas or breakthrough on how to keep things simpler, let me know. Email us@supportrainingauthors.com or let us know in our group. We would love to hear from you and I will talk to you in the next hit Splits.