#042 - Challenge + Accountability + Prizes = Forward Progress

Hey, friends. Welcome back to this hit splits episode. My name is Shelly Hitz, the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com and today I want to talk about how challenge + accountability + prizes can equal forward progress. So we have several ways that we do this in Christian Book Academy. One is our 15 minute writing challenge. So one week a month, we encourage you to write at least 15 minutes five days that week. And everyone who completes that, who does at least five days a week for 15 minutes gets entered into a prize for an Amazon gift card. And it is so powerful. It's amazing the response we get month after month after month. I mean, it never gets old. And the, the powerful thing is once you get started of just 15 minutes, you more than likely are going to continue and get a lot more than 15 minutes done. But even if you just do 15 minutes five days a month, you know, just during that challenge, you're going to be moving forward. Some people are doing their marketing tasks like blogging or writing emails, and then a lot of people are writing their first drafts. So that's one way. And then we're trying something new this month, our marketing mission, and just asking you to do one 15 minute task every week. And then at the end of the month, you submit a airtable form of your results and everyone who has completed it gets entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card. And it's interesting even just, I think it was yesterday somebody posted in the, in our group that they were so glad that we hosted this challenge. She posted something on her social media account and it was like getting tons of engagement. Like she said, I never, this never happens to me. And I almost didn't do it. I'm so glad that I did. And it was, I went to look at her post and it was, yeah, it was similar to a post that we have, you know, templates we have given. And it was, it was just amazing. And it was, it was for something different than like a book. It was for an upcoming workshop she's doing. But you can use all our prompts and you can use them in whatever way works best for you and what you're working on at the time. But she was so excited and I was so excited for her. And it was because of that challenge that she went out of her comfort zone and she posted that and now she's getting tons of people that she can see are interested in this workshop. So anyways, I am in a challenge this month and I was in several challenges. It's January and everyone wants to Do a challenge. You know, wants to host a challenge in January and it was too much for me, so I chose one. And it is a business related challenge. But it has been so good for me. It has been getting me to do some things that I have not been doing for a while. And I've been talking about SEO a little bit on this podcast and one of like each week she has different prompts and each of the different things are different points. And it's really interesting the way it's set up. And I may have to do something like this for Christian Christian Book Academy at some time. But then there's a second tab on the Google Sheet that has a leaderboard and it's really motivating for me because I'm like always looking at the leaderboard and right now I'm tied for first place. But you know, me and a couple people, we keep going back and forth. You know, they'll do a bunch of things and go ahead and then I'll do a bunch of things and go ahead. Well, anyways, I have been really motivated through this challenge to get back into SEO and I've known it for a while, you know, and I have have a tra. We have a training coming out for you in February about SEO. SEO for authors. And Heather Hart created that. I asked her to do that. But I myself have not been in, you know, the midst of SEO for a long time. It was how we started our business. And like, there's part of me that's like, oh, why did we ever, why did I ever get away from that? But, you know, you can't look back and regret the past. You can only change the present and the future. Right. So at this point, I have decided to invest more energy into SEO this year. So this challenge is really helping me because, like one of the weeks was, I think it's actually, it was this week, it was to research, do some keyword research and outline blog post, to actually write some blog posts. And it has got me going. And I have, I think maybe 10 different blog posts that I've identified and with keyword phrases. And then I've asked CJ to write one of them because that one was about how to write devotionals. And he's, he does a lot more of that and he's really good at it. So he's going to write a blog post on that. And I'm writing one right now. I'm, I have that first draft written. It's book marketing for introverts. So I think you will be Interested in that one. But it's, it's the keyword phrases that I'm using are book marketing strategies, I think is one of them. And anyways, I have really been motivated by this challenge and right now we're nearing the end and I don't know if I will win or not. I have been going back and forth and I, I'm sure it's kind of like, I feel like it's kind of like an auction at ebay or something like where you might be in the lead and you might be the one that, you know, it shows that you're gonna get it and someone slips in at the last minute and does one more thing and, you know, takes that away from you, you know, that's how it could work. So I'm, I think, I don't know, I, I think I might do some more work over the next couple days just to, you know, get these blog posts going. But also it will earn me points in this challenge because the number one prize is something I really would love to have. It's like a, it's a VIP day where this person will do keyword research for me. They will do, you know, you know, give me a plan and it's like done for you work. So I'm really interested in it. If I don't win, if I get second place, if I get fifth place place, you know what, I've still won. And that's the thing, because I've done the work, it's motivated me to do the work that I've needed to do for a long time. So if you are a Christian Book Academy member, I definitely recommend joining us for our 15 minute writing challenge. No matter what stage you are in the Kingdom writers path, you have writing to do. If you're first draft, obviously it's a no brainer. Yes. Join the 15 minute writing challenge. If you're the final draft stage, you can use that time to do your self editing. If you're in the self publish stage, you can use the time to do all the writing of the little things like the, the description and you know, your author bio and all the things that you need to write for that. And then if you're in book launch phase, there's tons of things that you'll need to be writing, you know, emails and posts and all the things. So. And with marketing, ongoing marketing, depending on what kind of marketing you do, there's always writing. Even if your marketing is podcast, you're going to be writing the show notes and an email or if, if you're doing videos, you're going to be writing a description and potentially, you know, emails and things like that. So join us because it is motivating. When you have a challenge with accountability and with prizes, there tends to be forward progress. So if you're not a Christian Book Academy member yet, join us at ChristianBookAcademy.com join us for our 15 minute challenge or our marketing mission challenge. I'm excited to see who all finishes it this month. And we may, you know, we're always changing things up to see, you know, what is serving you the most inside Christian Book Academy. But I'm interested to see who finishes it. I already know one of our members has gotten great results just by doing one post that probably took her five minutes. So do it. Take our challenges and join us. And I will talk to you in the next episode.