Absolutely loved every minute of working with this rockstar Christy Little on her ebook project.
In amidst her busy client therapy schedules, supervising licensure process, running clinic offices and a million other things.
Listen in to her biggest takeaways on what it takes to make a killer ebook from start to finish in this interview.
PREFER TO READ? HERE’S THE TRANSCRIPT OF MY INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTY LITTLE
Sylvie: Welcome everybody, it's Sylvie McCracken from sylviemccracken.com. Today I have one of my great clients, Christy Little, who's a licensed family and marriage therapist, did I say that right?
Christy: Yeah.
Sylvie: Okay, with us today to talk to us about her experience in writing her ebook and her experience in our program. So welcome Christy, thank you so much for being here.
Christy: Hi, thanks, I'm glad to be here.
Sylvie: Yeah, so glad you could carve it out of your busy day, which speaking of which, why don't you tell people a little bit about what you do and what your day and week looks like right now?
Christy: So right now, I am in a group practice with a few other clinicians, so I see about 25 to 30 clients a week. I'm also a clinical supervisor there, so I supervise candidates on their way to their licensure process and kind of help them through just case management and stuff like that. So, I do about 10 to 15 extra hours a week of that.
Sylvie: Wow.
Christy: Yeah, it's really busy. And on top of that, the owner of the clinic is kind of in and out. He has several different offices so I kind of help run the day-to-day and the practice, as well. So, very busy with work and then on top of that, I'm a single mom to a newly 4-year-old, and so it's a pretty busy week.
Sylvie: That's amazing. So what does your day look like? When do start when you go into work every day?
Christy: I go in about 9:30, so it's pretty nice that I don't have to start super early, but I mean from the time I wake up to the minute I'm down, I'm emailing and checking in and, you know, connecting and so, I see clients from 10:30 to 5:30 and then everything in between that, my lunch break, my morning time is all like emails and clinical supervision and checking in and making sure everything's going smoothly.
Sylvie: Wow.
Christy: And then for every session, of course, there's notes and documentation and stuff that has to be done, so there's probably another 10 hours or so of that a week too, so.
Sylvie: Wow.
Christy: Actually, putting it all out like that kind of sounds like wow, that is really crazy.
Sylvie: That is, it's a lot, I mean, it's amazing, and it's actually not that surprising because we'll get into in a minute kind of how far you've gotten with your ebook and all that jazz, but really, literally, I mean, some of our busiest clients end up accomplishing the most the fastest, which, you know, makes no sense when you think about it.
Christy: Where does that time come from?
Sylvie: Yeah, exactly. I think so far, me and distilling patterns, what I've noticed is just that fire under the butt, a lot of the times, it's just there. It's that motivation to make a change, and even though that change won't happen immediately, and it certainly won't happen by magic or without doing some extra work on top of all of that, there is a definite motivation that keeps you in that game and gets you, well, started. You know, started and then of course, continuing, so, that's pretty incredible and that's amazing. And then on top of that, you have a 4-year-old and you're a single mom.
Christy: Yeah.
Sylvie: Wow, okay. Got it, so first of all, I guess, before we even get into, 'cause I'm sure everyone wants to know how the heck, where did you even carve out any sort of time in all of that, 'cause it sounds to me like that's a pretty hectic schedule. But before we get into that, what would you say, what interested you in writing a book and really getting yourself online in the first place? What is it that motivated you to wanna do that?
Christy: So I have wanted to write a book as long as I can remember. I've always really enjoyed writing and journalism and that whole piece of things and so that's always kind of been a passion of mine, but the conundrum always became what do I say? What do I write about? And so when I saw this opportunity online, I think I saw a webinar on Facebook was kind of how got connected to the group and I said, “Hm, yeah, I could do that.” It was just neat to see it all kind of fall into place. You know, I always wanted to write a book. Over the last couple years, I've been thinking more about passive income and trying to figure out what it looks like to put something like that into place so that I'm not dollar per hour like you talk about. You know, I don't get paid time off, so if I need to take time off work because I'm overwhelmed, or I wanna go see family 'cause we live 2,000 miles from any of my family. And so I'm not only spending money to go on that trip, but I'm also losing money because I'm not working, and so it was just really needing something to make my life a little bit more sustainable 'cause I don't wanna be missing my son's whole life because I'm working, working, working, trying to make a life for us. And so that was kind of around the idea of the passive income, but writing the book was something that I just always wanted to do and knew that I had things to say, but how to get it out there and just how to make it happen, I think that's why this program was just so perfect, because it was that piece of this is how you get it done.
Sylvie: Yeah, I love that. And, you know, I'm getting like a little hint of nostalgia because as you're talking about your son being that age and whatever else, you know, I remember when I started, well, one of my kids was a teenager already, but a couple of them were toddlers, and so it just really kind of takes me back to that moment of having that same feeling of like, well, you know, as a single mom with my first. So having all of that together, I can definitely resonate with where you were and where you're at and still the journey that you have to go, so that's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. So, of course, in all of that, so I guess, of course, you joined the program so that you would have a system in order to create this ebook. And a couple of things. First, why don't we talk about how like, well, you just graduated a minute ago, and so 8-weeks fly by and obviously, there's still work to do when you don't have a website yet and all that kind of stuff, so there's still a little bit of work to do. But what did you accomplish in the 8 weeks that we were together?
Christy: Oh my gosh, so much. So I started with absolutely nothing. I mean, I watched the webinar and I thought, “Oh, okay.” So right away, I started generating ideas of things that I would want to write about, but you know when you walk into this, you even talk about it, you kind of have to clear that slate and just think about, let the pieces kind of fall into place and let it kind of happen, and not to get married to any one idea and one title and things like that. And so, I had an idea of a system in my head that I wanted to share, but it was I mean, starting from scratch, really, I mean, it was just a little teeny tiny seedling of an idea, and so solidifying who my audience was gonna be, who was I gonna be talking to, and titling the book, which is the fun part, but it also took me weeks and weeks. I mean, it was just the hardest part I think of the whole process, was coming up with that really perfect title. And doing a really great mind map and a really great outline and oh gosh, the audience and the title and the outline and the mind mapping, and then on top of all of that, you get to the fun stuff where it's like designing the covers and that was just a phenomenal process and I thought it was so fun and somebody, you know, this graphic designer that I've never met before, just pulled this idea out of my head and made it into something beautiful. So I was really excited for that.
Sylvie: That's awesome, and what is your title? Remind us what the title is.
Christy: My title is “The Intimacy Secret: Nurture Yourself and Connect to Your Partner.” So it's about that balance of taking care of who you are in order to be known and be fully intimate with your partner.
Sylvie: That's fantastic. And then you did quite a bit of the writing, as well.
Christy: Yes.
Sylvie: How much writing do you even have left to do?
Christy: I have finished the first draft completely.
Sylvie: I love it!
Christy: So totally done with the first draft now, it's just my friend has just sent me some comments on her critiques and feedback and stuff, so I'm gonna do some fluffing and some cleaning up and then send it off for editing, so yeah, so the book is done, it's just about getting it out there.
Sylvie: I know, and of course, you know, it's like when you start with an audience of zero and whatnot, of course there's some work to still be done on that front, but for a second, I just want to highlight the incredible amount of progress that you've made and, you know, all the credit goes to you for really showing up and doing the work in 8 weeks. Most people talk about writing a book, they talk about it for a decade, some of them never do it, it's on their bucket list, it never happens. So to be able to go from nothing to a completely finished first draft and have all of the, you know, all of the final draft stuff ready to go, title, cover, all of that stuff, ready to launch, is so incredible, Christy, and I just honor you for that, because, obviously, it takes some people a little bit longer than that, and that's totally okay, too. No one is by any means a failure if they don't do it Christy-speed, but it really is, it's incredible. So, yeah. So anyway, wanted to honor you for that. I certainly, I think that's fairly quicker than what I did when I was working full-time and had a whole bunch of kids. So on that same note, where are on Earth did you find this time? Where did you create, right? Time doesn't just show up, it doesn't just magically appear, and I know you don't have a time machine and you have the same 24 hours that everybody else does. But in your busy schedule of working however many hours it is as a therapist and then also as a mom, which is no joke either, where did you carve it out? How'd you make that work?
Christy: So I mean, I took every teeny tiny pocket of time that I had and I did something. So even if I couldn't devote 2 full hours at a time to writing, if I had a cancellation in my day for whatever reason or if a client was late for a session or something, I mean, I took every single pocket of time that I had and I put something on paper. So you know, I took notes or I used brain.fm, which by the way, oh my gosh, the coolest thing I have ever used, and I have used it for every single step of the way, so it's been amazing. And so those, you know if I had 15 minutes, or I had 20 minutes or I had 5 minutes, it didn't matter, I was doing something and even in those 5 minutes of just focusing on mindset or mulling over title ideas or really thinking about what the subject was going to be about or how to say a certain thing or how to make sure that I'm giving good examples. I mean, so literally every single minute that I had extra went to this project
Sylvie: That's amazing.
Christy: Yeah, so then when I got to the end and all of the shell was done, it was just about writing and so I just said, “Okay, I will write every night after my son goes to bed “for at least an hour, so if I even just have an hour, “that's all I've got and then I crash.” I was crashing, literally crashing at the end of the day, but it was great.
Sylvie: Yeah, that's amazing your determination really, like, it's just incredible and I think it's you're kind of that example of really, I don't know, I like to say everyone has time, that triggers a lot of people, which is totally fine, if anyone's watching and it triggers you, I totally get it. But I come from that same space of being in that same situation like you, Christy, with a day job and kids and this and that. And really a lot of the times, that's exactly what it takes to have that big resolve to really say, “You know what, I'm gonna do it. “Doesn't matter how, where, whatever, “I'm gonna find a crack and it's gonna happen.”
Christy: Yes.
Sylvie: So that is incredible. So what would you say was the biggest… You know, the framework or the module or the part of the program that really impacted you the most?
Christy: Hm, that's a great question.
Sylvie: Or the strategy that you learned that was the most valuable for you.
Christy: You know, I mean so much of this project is just about the mindset of getting it done. And I know that everybody has kind of latched onto that and I think it is the critical piece. I loved all of the modules, they were all so great and, you know, the cover design process was my favorite 'cause I got to use some of that creative piece that I love so much. But I really think that the mindset, the very first module on, you know, protect your mindset and don't care what the naysayers say. I mean, I found myself not telling anybody for the first probably 3 weeks that I was even doing this, because I was such a fragile thing that I wanted to really, really be protected and so it really was kind of like another baby, you know? So it was just, I think, yeah, definitely the mindset piece and being able to check in with the group every week was completely invaluable, because every time I kind of felt like I was kinda sliding, I was able to find myself, you know, checking in and having some accountability. And I think that that very first module was the best one about protecting what you're building here.
Sylvie: Yeah. That's amazing. Well, thank you, that's really helpful to know and helpful for you to share. It's so funny because, you know, people will come to us to learn to write a book and of course, you get that, but a lot of the times, what we hear is just that, you know, it's sort of like, and also you're gonna deal with mindset.
Christy: Oh for sure, for sure. And that's the other piece, I think probably on top of the mindset, I mean, the skillset that I'm learning that I never had before was just that online piece of getting myself out there and having that online presence, and the content marketing stuff that was way, way, way over my head but so critical for building. Building the following that I'm gonna need for getting this out there.
Sylvie: Yeah, absolutely. So what would you say also then on that same note, what was the biggest shift that you noticed in yourself, if any, you know, as a result of all of that mindset work?
Christy: So that's actually a really personal thing for me. I have always known that if I really put my mind to something, that I could achieve it, but I got to this place where if I knew that I wasn't gonna be 100% successful, that perfectionist piece of me would just take over and just say, “No, not doing it.” You know? And so this shift for me was really just about not every first run is gonna be perfect, but that doesn't mean that I can't get there eventually and it really is just about putting the energy and effort into it and that's the piece that I felt like personally I had lost along the way of becoming an adult, right? I mean, you just get to this place where you do, you know, you have a certain skillset and you do it so well and people, you know, give you such positive feedback on the work that you do, and you know, you make it through school, you make it through grad school and you have all of these successes under your belt that you kind of quit forgetting what that failure piece feels like. And I think you get scared of it.
Sylvie: Yeah.
Christy: And so then you just don't try something new because that fear of failure is so huge and that was a huge piece for me. I think if I had… I think you kind of have the right idea because if I had seen all of the pieces of what we were gonna be doing from the very beginning, I might have not even started because that fear of failure piece would have taken over. But I kind of walked into it like, sounds like a good idea blind folded, and jump, right?
Sylvie: Yeah.
Christy: And it turned out to be exactly what I needed to get over that piece and I can tell you, it has impacted so many different aspects of my life, it's just insane.
Sylvie: Yeah. Has it shown up in terms of parenting? Or where else has it shown up?
Christy: Definitely. You know, in my parenting and in some of the decisions that I'm having to make at work with my supervisor rules and things like that, just, you know, not being afraid to speak up and say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done, even if it's not exactly the way other people are gonna do it, or the way that people are wanting me to show up and do things and so. You know, in my personal life interacting with my son's dad and all these different places. I mean, it's something that really has touched every single aspect of my life, it's been really amazing.
Sylvie: Wow. That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's incredible, you know. I mean, it's like, you know, we definitely wanna impact, you know, thousands through your work and through, you know, all of our clients books and that's amazing. But I love it when I can hear kind of that immediate ROI, I guess, in terms of this little 4-year-old that's growing up right now. And you know, the shifts that that's creating. I'm sure that will, you know, take effect when he's an adult, as well. So that's amazing.
Christy: Absolutely.
Sylvie: Yeah, cool. Okay, cool. And so what is your launch date planned for?
Christy: So the website will be up by July 1st is my deadline, and the book should be following very shortly after that. I mean, it's really just about getting the editing and the interior design pieced onand it's ready to go.
Sylvie: Yeah, I love it, I love it. Well, cool. Well, Christy, you know, there might be other shrinks, as I like to call you all, and you know, other docs listening, other nutritionists and dietitians and whatnot listening, and is there any last message that you'd like to share with them for anyone listening and kind of resonating with your story a little bit? Anything that you wanna share with them?
Christy: I would say that somewhere out there, the people who need your voice, have read everything, have tried multiple different counselors, have talked to families and mentors and nothing's clicked for them. And so your voice might be the piece that really resonates with them and even if it's no perfect or even if there are 40 million other things out there exactly like yours, there's something so unique about your work and your voice and what you have to say that that is going to be the piece that drives this. I mean, that was the piece for me, was just who am I to do this? And is it even really that important? And seeing all of these things that the people in the group work were connecting with that weren't really connecting for me and just knowing that I am creating my own following somehow and the people who need my work are going to find me. So I think that's it. Just keep the faith that you have something to say and you have something that people need to hear.
Sylvie: That's beautiful. Yeah, completely agree. I think so many people disqualify themselves so soon, so I'm really glad you shared that. And that's absolutely true. So, we will go ahead and edit this video when Christy's website is up and live. We will add a link to it below. And in the meantime, you know, if you're watching this and you're thinking you would like to create your own book, you would like to leverage your practice, your business online and write about your expertise and really share that with the world, book a call with our team and we will let you know if we can help you with that or not. The link to book a call is sylviemccracken.com/call and we have the best team on the planet that will show you exactly whether we can help you or not and exactly how to do that, so the link to that will be right below. And I will see you guys very, very soon, bye.
