Amanda Young – Book Journeys Author Interview – Mar. 24, 2016

On this episode of Book Journeys, Angela interviews Amanda Young, author of Finding Clarity: Design a Business You Love and Simplify Your Marketing.

Finding Clarity isn’t Amanda’s first book, but while the latter was more of a “stream of consciousness” book, intended primarily for her family’s consumption, Finding Clarity is a more “strategic” and deliberate book, one that is intended to enable entrepreneurs find clarity in their own business, including figuring out whom they want to work with, what they want to be doing, how to get referrals and what they should be offering. Amanda remarked that Finding Clarity essentially has everything that she wished she knew before she started her own business three years ago

Amanda admits that she had several other ideas for books in mind before starting writing. When she started writing the book, she also admitted that she had an entirely different book in mind, one more aligned with her interest in the motherhood movement. She remarked that the book that finally came out was the one which she felt needed to come out, and that, once it did, she admitted to being “shocked” about it.

Amanda praised Angela’s Difference Process for helping her write out her book, describing it essentially as a system that guided her throughout the whole process. She admitted that she had her own fears about how she would appear to others once the book came out, commenting that she was afraid of being “psychoanalyzed” and having her “dirty laundry” visible for all to see. Amanda also remarked that creating a book in a group where everyone else was creating their own books at the same time made her less fearful about the process, comparing it to when she wrote and published her first book, which was a solo effort, and gave the analogy of a whole group of non-swimmers jumping in for their first swim in the ocean to show the degree of confidence a group gave her. Amanda also noted that having an ideal reader helped her out greatly during the writing process, and that, once she had decided on the book she needed to write, she didn’t suffer from writer’s block, as she knew exactly what it was she would write.

For Amanda, writing out the book gave her the opportunity to figure out, through questioning and self-reflection, what it was that she really wanted. At the time she wrote the book, her business was essentially “shut down,” and the clarity she then received made her realize that she was going in a direction she didn’t want to. Amanda admits that some of the feedback she gets still “shocks” her, and she is also surprised that non-entrepreneurs read the book and get something from it. To those who are thinking of writing their own book, Amanda advises to “follow your gut” and to figure out what the eventual intention of their book is.

Listen to the Amanda Young Interview on Book Journeys Radio

(Transcript) Amanda Young – Book Journeys Author Interview – March 24, 2016

DOWNLOAD the PDF: Book Journeys Author Interview – Amanda Young – March 24 2016

Watch out for Angela’s interview with another exciting author.