What would you do if you were laid off from your job?
A few weeks ago, one of my incredible clients, nurse practitioner, Martha Rosenstein was in that exact situation and had a decision to make….
Go get another mediocre job with limited impact, limited income and ZERO freedom or take life by the reigns and create her business and life to her exact preferences…
I bet you can guess which one she picked! And in a net 3 weeks of work, while still in our 8 week Ebook Engines program she created her ebook from scratch and released it!
This is JUST the beginning of her journey for sure but the key takeaway here is the key mindset distinction here is that life will always have a few curve-balls.
How you react to them is EVERYTHING.
PREFER TO READ? HERE’S THE TRANSCRIPT OF MY INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA ROSENSTEIN
Sylvie: Hey, everybody. It’s Sylvie McCracken from sylviemccracken.com. Today, I have one of my incredible clients, Martha Rosenstein from marthaflorence.com. Welcome, Martha.
Martha: Hi.
Sylvie: Hey.
Martha: Happy to be here.
Sylvie: Thanks for being here. I brought Martha on today to just share a little bit about her experience so far and what she’s doing. She’s in our 8-week EBook Engines program, still in the program, and has already finished her eBook and launched it because she’s a little bit crazy as we like to tease her. Martha, before we get into all of that which, of course, people want to hear all about, tell us what you were doing and where you were before you joined the program?
Martha: I had just gotten laid off of my job. I’m a nurse practitioner. I was working in a small clinic, and I live in Anchorage, Alaska, and just the economy is tanking so small medical clinics are not doing very well right now. I just gotten laid off from my job and been dabbling in my own business on the side for years. I just decided when I got home one day that I was like, “I don’t want another job, so I have to figure out how to make this work for me,” and I can’t remember exactly how I found you, but it sort of, I guess it was fate that I stumbled on this program, and I was like, “This is what I need.”
Sylvie: Yeah, which is, it’s an incredible story. I was talking to you a little while ago too in terms of like if you think about it, most people in that situation would be like, “Oh my god,” in panic mode and like, “This is not the right time to start anything new, or do anything, or follow my dream, or whatever.” I’d just like to highlight that because I feel like there was something in you that decided to draw that line in the sand and say, “You know what? That’s enough of this. Do you remember just what you were thinking or what your alternatives even were?
Martha: It was really funny because I called my dad, my dad was the first person I called. I tried to call my boyfriend, but he was working and didn’t answer the phone, so I called my dad, and my dad was like, “Oh my gosh, this is terrible like what are you going to do? Are you going to …” I was going on a trip like the next day or at … I think it was a Friday, so I was going on a trip on Monday. He’s like, “Are you going to cancel your trip? Like what, this is terrible. You need to make a plan.” I was like, “Eh,” like I never really got upset about it, which was where I came to the conclusion that it was meant to be essentially like I just was like, “No, I’m not going to get upset about this.”
I looked for jobs when I got home because I thought, “Oh my gosh, I need to make some money. Like how am I going to pay my bills?” I was just absolutely crushed at the job options that were available. I loved the job that I had, so I was sad about that part of it, but I just, it was like, “I don’t want any of these jobs.” I literally don’t want my soul to be crushed by these jobs, and that’s how I felt it was going to be, so I … There was almost no choice. It was very clear to me when that happened that this was how it was going to be.
Sylvie: I love that because it is one of those things where it’s like we always … It’s like we have these choices, right, in life? Sometimes, they’re a little bit … If you think about it, when you … A year ago, if we had talked, you might have been, “Eh, I don’t love my job, but eh, it’s okay.” Right? You might have not been. You might have had a lot more ability to take your time. You wouldn’t have needed to be profitable immediately or anything like that, but at the same time, you might have not had that fire under the butt that you have now. Does that feel accurate?
Martha: Absolutely, and I was telling one of my friends that I actually am afraid. I don’t know like I’m big on manifesting things, and I was telling one of my friends that I actually think that I manifested this accidentally because my side business as it was a side business was a side business, and it never really got the momentum that I wanted it to get because I was doing it in the extra, in the spare time on the side.
One day, I was like, “I feel like all of these people who are successful in their business got fired from their jobs or they had some reason why they had to make it work.” I think I wished out loud that that would happen to me, and then there I was maybe a year later, and I was like, “Did I bring this on myself? I guess that means I have to fix it.”
Sylvie: Martha is really advising everyone to go ahead and get fired because of what’s happened.
Martha: It works.
Sylvie: Oh my goodness, that is fantastic. Yeah. It’s interesting because speaking of fire under the butt, you’ve been kicking ass throughout the whole entire program, and it’s something that we like to tease Martha a lot because she’s just like, “Oh, no big deal. Just wrote another thousand words.” Walk us through a little bit of like what did you do in terms of your schedule? What kind of time did you carve out for this new project in terms of like getting it done, right?
Martha: Yeah. Obviously, no day job anymore, so I have a lot of spare time at home, but I did not work on this book you know 8 hours a day, 7 days a week or even 5 days a week. I just committed. The fortunate part about having all of the time in the world to work on it was that I was able to pick the times when I felt like I could be the most productive, and I know that I recognize that that’s a luxury that a lot of people don’t have, but sometimes, when I sit down to work on things, it’s like I’m just not focused on that thing that I’m supposed to be working on, and I want to work on something else.
I was actually able to do that, which I think was key in getting the most out of my time, so I probably worked on it for a couple hours a day. Maybe at most, four. Two to four most days of the week, so I think probably five days a week. My weekends are funny like I take a weekend on Monday and Tuesday because of my boyfriend’s schedule, so probably five days a week for no more than four hours a day. Maybe more than not a couple times, but it wasn’t … It didn’t feel like a huge time commitment is the other thing, which was weird.
Sylvie: Yeah. It’s funny I think because once you have that incredible drive and that commitment, which you just mentioned, it’s like the rest of it just falls into place. It’s like, “Well, how am I going to find the time?” You’re going to make it, but it has to be a big enough why, not like, “Oh, it’s a side hustle, and it will be some latte money,” and, “Oh, maybe it will make a few bucks, and that will be fantastic,” but if it’s a big enough like, “I don’t want to get one of those terrible jobs again,” then all of a sudden, look at that. We found some time.
Martha: Exactly.
Sylvie: It’s fantastic. In how many weeks … I don’t know. I’ve lost track, but how many weeks from start to finish because you already finished and launched the book, which is insanity, but how long did that take you total in those little part-time days?
Martha: I think that this is … I know like our cycle is a little bit messed up because of holidays and whatnot.
Sylvie: Holidays. Yeah.
Martha: I think this is technically from like the day that I started this week seven, and it wasn’t … I mean, it’s not like you start writing it right away like there’s a whole process to figuring out your topic and doing an outline and all of that. I probably started writing in week three, so four weeks.
Sylvie: Four weeks, and then you took off that entire week for Thanksgiving and hiking?
Martha: Yeah.
Sylvie: Or what was it? You did a 25K or something?
Martha: I ran a 50K.
Sylvie: Okay. This is just … I can’t with you. I can’t like I just … anyway.
Martha: What do you mean eBook is easy compared to that? Come on.
Sylvie: I will agree. I don’t know how you did that. I don’t even want to know. I ran two miles, and I’m exhausted, so that’s incredible. If you think about it, so that’s probably in that three weeks of working part-time from start to finish in terms of the actual writing process. That’s pretty crazy, and you didn’t have any help with the writing in terms of ghost writers or anything like that. It was just fingers to keyboard. That’s fantastic. In terms of our EBook Engines Program, what would you say so far has been the most valuable framework or module for you so far?
Martha: I think probably, I struggle with marketing, so that module was really helpful for me because that was the thing that gave me the most anxiety oddly like, “Writing a book, no anxiety there. Putting myself out there, no anxiety there, but like how the heck am I going to get people to buy this thing?” That’s the part that I struggle with, so I think that was helpful, and I would say secondary to that that the mind mapping, which I thought was going to be completely unhelpful to me was also very helpful just to get my thoughts gathered.
Sylvie: Yeah. Yeah, it felt like you were just untangling what you already …
Martha: Yeah.
Sylvie: It was like fantastic content, just a little bit jumbled.
Martha: Yes.
Sylvie: That was the untangling of it, so that’s fantastic. Cool. In terms of when you finished your eBook to when you launched it, how long? What was that? Like couple days? How long did that take?
Martha: It took a little bit of extra time because I was plugging it into … I used the PowerPoint template, so it was a little bit of cut and paste. That probably took me three days, and then it took me another day to format my references, build my resources page, and that was … I mean, it was less than five days from the time I finished it, and I was like, “I guess I’m going all in like let’s just do this. There’s something waiting.”
Sylvie: Totally, and now you’re launched which, of course, you have a small audience, and a small email list, and all of that, but you’ve already made your first sale, which is the most important one.
Martha: Yes.
Sylvie: It was fantastic, so literally now, we just have to follow-through with the marketing plan and all of that, which is … I think it’s just incredible of the fact that you’re done with the biggest piece of the equation, and you did it in such a short amount of time, right? The fact that … You guys, like I don’t know if like people are capturing this, but a few weeks ago, you had just lost your job. You were like, “Well, let me look at what other jobs are out there. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Let me do this. Go all in. Take our program, take our advice on like …” We went back and forth a bit on your topic, and your outline, and whatever. Create an eBook.
The darn thing is done, designed, finished, and launched, and you’ve already made your first sale. That’s crazy. To be clear, I didn’t do it that quickly. Anyway, I think that that’s amazing, but it really speaks more than anything else to your drive and your commitment to be like, “This is the only option like this is exactly what we’re doing. The end.”
Martha: Yup. The only way out is through, I mean.
Sylvie: Yeah, yeah. Every step of the way, in all of your posts, you’ve been so encouraging to the group as well in terms of you haven’t necessarily felt like writing every single day. You haven’t necessarily … It hasn’t necessarily been just check, check, check every step of the process. There have been some back-and-forth, and reworking, and “Let’s figure this out,” or whatever else, but the important thing is you have carved out the time. You have been incredibly coachable and open to feedback where needed, and you’ve been committed to that outcome, and taking action, and resourceful as heck in terms of just getting it absolutely done, so that is incredible, and I definitely want to honor you for that.
Martha: Thanks.
Sylvie: Absolutely, girl. Obviously, this is all in regards to your eBook and all in regards to what you’re about to embark on, which is creating this passive income stream into your business, and no longer having it be your side hustle, but actually like this is it. This is what Martha does. That’s all fine and dandy. Has there been any sort of trickle-down effect in terms of any areas that are outside of business? In your personal life or your relationship, has any of that … Have you seen any sort of effects there?
Martha: I think it’s a two-way street and I think like I think the timing of this couldn’t have been better because like you said, I just ran a 50K. One of the hardest 50Ks in the entire country, maybe even the world. Really hard. I did it, and that was … That combined with being a part of a group that has supportive people, great mentors, like I think those things combined have made me feel unstoppable in all areas like this momentum.
What I like to say for myself like, “Action creates momentum,” so as soon as you start moving, you just keep moving, and I feel like that’s happened overall in my life like I just … I ran with it. Pardon the pun. It just happened. It sounds so cheesy. I almost can’t explain it, but it was just like I started, I stuck with it, and I kept going, and now it’s done.
Sylvie: Yeah. I know. I get it. Yeah. People are like, “I don’t know. How could this possibly affect your personal life? It’s just a darn book. It’s just a passive income stream. It’s just a business,” but the truth of the matter is as an entrepreneur, the truth is there’s not that much of a division, right, between our businesses and our personal lives because it’s us.
It’s how we show up and everything else, so it’s incredible because that effect on you and who you are as a person just continues to have this ripple effect with everyone you come into contact with whether it’s your boyfriend, your dad, or anyone in between, so that’s pretty amazing. Running 50K. I can only imagine where you’re going to go after that like, “What? What? What is after 50K?” I guess I could state the obvious, right? There’s just more Ks?
Martha: You could do a 50-miler or a 100-miler. I don’t have any desire to do that.
Sylvie: Okay, okay.
Martha: It was just like, “Let’s see what happens,” kind of a thing.
Sylvie: Oh my goodness, that is fantastic. How are you feeling now? You’re still in the middle of process in a way, but how are you feeling in terms of that idea of even searching of a job? Do you think you’ll ever go back to a day job again?
Martha: I hope not. I’m still financially not where I want to be, but I feel like I’m closer than I was three weeks ago. Three weeks ago, I had nothing creating a passive income stream, and now I have … I mean, one fail. Not huge, but it’s a start like you gotta start somewhere. Everybody starts from zero.
Sylvie: Yup.
Martha: Zero anymore, so I think … Yeah.
Sylvie: It’s amazing, and what I love is like we’re capturing you in progress, and so being able to talk to you six months from now even and be able to share because the thing about this too is that once that snowball is like starting to roll, the results happen and grow so much quicker than anyone will think, so you’re going to be just a fantastic person to also bring on again and show that contrast of like what’s happened six months into the journey, a year into the journey, et cetera, so it’s absolutely … It’s just been an honor to help you, and we’re not even done yet. I’ll be speaking to you again tomorrow, so we’re still in progress.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with everybody. I hope that your story really inspires plenty of people that are really in this situation too of deciding on doing some sort of big leap, of taking a big leap. Whether it’s writing an eBook, whether it’s joining a program, whether it’s joining our program or somebody else’s program, or starting a new business in a new niche, or taking their business to the next level, and notice that there are always reasons to say, “No, not now. Not this year. Not this quarter. Not until X, Y, and Z,” but the truth of the matter is, is that sometimes, you just have to jump, and figure it out, and make it happen, and actually carve out the time, find the exact strategy that you need, whoever the right mentor is for you to get you there, and just freaking do it, right? Nobody is going to come and do it for you, so that is fantastic. Martha, is there anything else that you want to say to anyone listening before we wrap up?
Martha: No, you summarized it like no excuses. You just do it like just do it. If you feel like it’s the right thing, you’ll make it the right thing. Like with a lot of my patients, I always tell them that … like you see those people that are like, “Oh, they always make the right decision.” They always make the right decision. Everything they do is just perfect, and I don’t think that that’s really a thing. I think you make … The people who make the right decisions all the time are the people that know how to make the decisions they make work for them. If it’s what you really want to do, just do it like do it.
Sylvie: That’s fantastic. Yeah, that’s fantastic. Show up coachable, and resourceful, and willing to get that breakthrough because that’s the way it’s absolutely going to happen. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. That’s fantastic. Thank you so much, Martha, for sharing that with everybody. For anyone listening, if you’re interested in creating passive income with eBooks and you think that we could help you get there, book a call with my incredible team, the same people that have spoken to Martha before she joined the program as well at sylviemccracken.com/call. I’ll also put that link below the video. Until next time.
