Leadership Perspective

Many authors expect the book itself to “do the work.” Visibility will increase. Clients will pour in. Speaking invitations will stack up. Let me tell you , it rarely happens that way. Your book doesn’t automatically grow your business. Your strategy does.

I’ve owned more than a dozen businesses, overseen thousands of events, and spent years helping coaches scale their message — and there’s a truth I wish every entrepreneur learned earlier: Your business can grow without you…but it cannot depend on you. The moment your business becomes dependent on your presence, your constant content creation, your energy, or your availability, your growth is capped.

One of the most powerful lessons I learned from owning 12 businesses, planning more than 4,000 events, and coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs is this: Your book doesn’t create income. Your offer does. A book opens the door. Your offer invites them into transformation.

A good funnel isn’t about automation. It’s about instilling confidence, clarity, and next steps. After working with my sales and marketing mentor, Jim Edwards (Author of the life-changing book - Copywriting Secrets), for several years, I can tell you this: Most sales funnels don’t fail because the content is bad. They fail because the buyer's journey is broken.

Your book is not the destination. It’s the catalyst. It’s the spark that opens doors, builds trust, and positions you as the guide your readers have been waiting for.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see among coaches and service-based entrepreneurs is the belief that writing a book automatically positions you as an authority. It doesn’t.

When people hear I’ve planned more than 4,000 events, they usually imagine glamorous stages, big-name speakers, perfectly timed lighting cues, and audiences cheering in unison. And yes — I’ve been behind plenty of those moments. But the real story of event planning isn’t in the glitter. It’s in what happens when human beings gather with intention… and leave changed.

If you’ve spent any time in the rooms I’ve led — retreats, events, coaching sessions, strategy intensives — you’ll notice something quickly: Women don’t just build businesses. Women build legacies.

My first big chapter was event planning. Not simple events — we’re talking 4,000+ experiences ranging from intimate retreats… to global corporate productions… to a million-dollar one-of-a-kind pharmaceutical launch complete with pyrotechnics and the B-52s. I was good at it. I was respected. I was in demand.

When people ask me how I learned to run a business, they usually expect me to mention an MBA or a favorite mentor.But the truth is — I learned almost everything that matters standing behind a counter in my dad’s small-town electronics and appliance store. It was the kind of place where everyone knew your name. I started working there around age ten, sweeping floors, unpacking boxes, and watching how my dad treated people. He taught me that success wasn’t about selling the m

Every author remembers the thrill of launch week — the messages from friends, the screenshots of bestseller rankings, the flurry of social posts celebrating your hard work. But after the confetti settles, something sobering happens. Sales slow down. The attention fades. The book you poured your heart and soul into starts gathering digital dust on Amazon.

Most coaches don’t have a “book problem.”They have a post-book plan problem. After years helping coaches self-publish, I kept seeing the same painful pattern: brilliant books launch…and then quietly disappear. Not because the ideas weren’t powerful, but because there wasn’t a simple path to turn those pages into presence, pipeline, and paid programs.