How I Overcame My Fear of Writing

Picture it: the mountains of North Carolina, 2013 an overworked mom and massage therapist is ready to change her life, and she buys a planner…

 That’s how my career as an online entrepreneur began. As I worked through the planner, I began to feel that my life could be more, that I could do something different, have more time with my family, and maybe even make some money online! 

I had a vague idea of sharing what I had learned in my then 18 years as a massage therapist and esthetician with people that were just getting started. Maybe I could write an ebook or teach some classes.

 There was just one problem, I would have to write, and I was terrible at writing. I was sure of this because I had believed it for so long. In school, I didn’t get good grades on my English papers, and I hated everything about learning sentence structure and trying to write reflections on The Scarlett Letter.

I wanted to write in plain English and call a spade a spade, so I asked, “can I just write the way I talk?” The answer was no, and I pretty much decided at that point, that I sucked at writing. This was in the pre-internet days, so I didn’t have examples of people just saying whatever they wanted all over the place.

 Massage therapists don’t have to do much writing, some client notes, class notes, mostly things that no one ever sees. I just didn’t have much reason to think about or work on my writing, until I started my own spa.

Because of my belief that I wasn’t a good writer I took weeks to write my service menu, web page content, and marketing materials. I wasn’t great at it, but I could get the information that I needed to across.

 So, what is a girl who wants to start an online business but “can’t write” to do? I had to decide that my long-held belief was false. It simply wasn’t something I could believe and reach my goals.

I journaled, wondered why I had let one comment from someone 20 years earlier develop into a belief about myself, forgave myself, forgave my teacher, and I wrote 5 GREAT WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR MASSAGE OR SPA BIZ. It was not brilliant, but it was helpful, and it was a start!

 One year later I published my first ebook, Massage Enhancements Your Clients Will Love. I’ll never forget selling my first copy on a road trip with my family, it made anything seem possible, if one person would pay $19.95 for my ebook, why wouldn’t 100 people or 1000?

I turned the ebook into an online course with videos recorded on my iPhone. Every step of the way I had to learn new things and stretch myself. Being on camera, recording my voice, and hiring help, each of these brought up old beliefs for me to battle, and the more I do it the easier it becomes.

 To date, my online business has made over 30,000 individual sales. I quit my day job in 2015, and my son doesn’t have to go to afterschool or snow day camp. I’ve even continued my education and become certified as a Feng Shui consultant.

I’m not telling you this to show off. I’m telling this to you so you will know that if I can do it, you can too, step by step, failing and succeeding along the way.

If you are ready to start your online business check out my new program Online Business Buildout! or the The Mastermind Course Library