Newsletter #22: Who’s driving the bus? You or me?
/
Big news: I’m ghostwriting my first business book in 2021. My client, his marketing manager and I have worked together on various projects for almost two years and I met them through a colleague I worked with for many years.
We were supposed to start the book last year, but it got postponed. But not before the thought of writing it made me break out in hives. Funny story, now.
One weekend evening last spring, I was laying on the couch, relaxing to the max with a book and my mind started wandering. I got to thinking about ghostwriting this business book—the work, the sorting it all out, the “can-I-do-this?” self-interrogation—when I suddenly felt nervous and got super hot.
The next morning, I was covered in hives from the waist up, including little dry patches on my eyelids. That freaked me out, but the hives went away completely within two weeks. Still, that was a bad sign.
Hives are frequently associated with stress so what I took away from that experience is the essentialness of self-care while working on this book project (and in general). So far in 2021, this is going pretty good.
For this book, my client wants it to be published by one of the big publishing houses and because he works on both sides of the border, we’re aiming for an American publishing house. Which means we need a literary agent. To woo an agent, you need a book proposal, which might even be more difficult than writing the book itself (I’ll tell you later).
I’m following the process outlined in How to Write a Book Proposal, 5th Edition and there’s a lot to manage, especially since we have an aggressive timeline.
With this client and his marketing manager, who I consider the other half of my client, we’ve worked out a good system for projects. Our interviews usually start with us all knowing the topic, me asking him, “What do you want to say about this topic?” and him taking it from there. My input is generally asking clarifying questions and providing comic relief.
He’s been driving the bus for nearly two years.
So, at our kick-off meeting, it was a little weird for me when I said, “You guys can weigh in on the weekly agenda, and I know this isn’t how we usually do things but because I need certain input in a certain order for this proposal, I need to drive the bus for these meetings. How do you guys feel about that?”
“That’s fine.”
[Well, that pre-meeting nervous diarrhea was certainly a waste.]
More recently, I was in a video meeting with three other clients, two of them business owners, one of them the marketing manager for one of the businesses. We were sorting out the process for a newsletter project we collaborate on and I used Columbo’s hand-on-the-doorknob-just-one-more-thing a couple times to nail down some specifics. I said that our one newsletter works smoothly and added, “I’m sure this one will too.”
The one client—who I’ve been working with for about 18 awesome months—said, “I just wait for Andrea to tell us what to do.”
We all laughed.
I’ve worked with executives for more than a decade and have been writing for them for eight or nine years now.
With most of them, I’ve done my share of driving the bus. This mostly involves being clear and organized like, “Here’s what we’re doing, by when and what I need from you.”
I first did this in the context of being an administrator and I felt weird about telling the SVP what to do by next week’s meeting.
But I soon learned that this provided some relief. Executives and business owners are always in charge, making many decisions and everyone wants a piece of them.
I started driving the bus to make things easier for them when we work together.
Sometimes I drive the bus, sometimes my client drives the bus and when there’s an executive assistant involved, she drives the bus with a quiet power that’s beyond reproach.
This is how a functioning team or partnership works.
And driving the bus doesn’t mean getting your own way. For example, in that video meeting, I was outvoted on graphic options and possibly font size (my position on fonts is—like teased hair—the bigger the better, within reason).
There are times to drive the bus and times to call shotgun. When we get good at discerning the difference, life is easier.
Until next time, keep on truckin’,
Andrea
PS: One caveat … if your business is about needing an amazing ghostwriter, I’ll break Byron’s rule and get right up in your business.
PPPS: To read more about Byron Katie’s fascinating story, have a look here.
Comic relief
It's the new year. Is your drug dealer thinking of your health? If no, it's time to find someone who cares about YOU. Just kidding, don't do drugs! But do watch this quick video and have a laugh (which is, some say, the best medicine).
The Health Conscious Drug Dealer
[Click on thumbnail to go to the video on YouTube.]
Epic tunes
I recently discovered this set and it immediately hit me in the gut (in a good way). Hope you enjoy it too. As Callum says in the comments, “As Scottish as Scottish lassie can get!”
Amy Macdonald - This Is The Life & Let's Start A Band (Live @ Rudolstadt-Festival 2017)
Epic tunes BONUS: Here’s Amy singing an awesome cover of Born to Run
Inspiration
David Marquet, retired Navy captain, shares a story about making an embarrassing mistake on his new submarine. In less than three minutes, he enthusiastically talks about why training people to be compliant on the job while telling them “we really want you to think” doesn’t work. This guy wrote the amazing book, Turn the Ship Around, which I highly recommend for leaders, even ones who don’t command a submarine.
David Marquet - Expert on Leadership and Innovation | Bestselling Author of Turn The Ship Around
60-second commercial
I'm an executive ghostwriter, specializing in benefits, leadership coaching, corporate wellness and employee assistance programs (EAPs).
I work with executives and executive coaches who have big hearts, are driven to help others and never open a conversation they're not willing to close.
My clients are straightforward, ambitious, humble, hilarious and I never have to wonder what they're thinking because they say what they mean and mean what they say.
If you're a tough-love executive or executive coach who would benefit from the kind of work I do, please get in touch:
andrea@redsailwriters.com | 647-502-3187 | ca.linkedin.com/in/andreabassett
Let's talk about these thought leadership projects in 2021:
Newsletters | White papers + e-books | Ghostwritten articles
Workbooks to supplement corporate training
Business book ghostwriting (fall 2021, early 2022)