Journey to Iconic Podcast
Welcome to the Journey to Iconic Podcast, where we explore what it takes for leaders to operate at full authority when the stakes are highest.
Each episode dives into real-world challenges faced by senior leaders, unpacking how pressure impacts clarity, communication, and decision-making — and what it takes to stabilise presence and authority in critical moments.
Through insightful interviews with executives, thought leaders, and solo episodes sharing actionable insights, this podcast equips you to:
- Maintain clarity under pressure
- Speak deliberately and confidently
- Hold authority without force or overcompensation
If you’re a leader navigating high-stakes environments or simply want to understand how presence and decision-making intersect under pressure, this podcast offers practical strategies, perspectives, and stories to help you lead with unshakable authority.
Tune in to discover how to transform high-pressure situations into opportunities for decisive action and leadership impact.
Journey to Iconic Podcast
Ghostwriting Your Truth: Capturing Authentic Stories with Eilis
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What happens when your story burns within you, but the words just won’t come? In this illuminating conversation with professional ghostwriter Eilis Olson, we explore the delicate art of helping others tell their most powerful stories—even when they don’t see themselves as writers.
Eilis shares her own journey from number-crunching accountant to soul-stirring storyteller, showing how following your intuition can lead to unexpected fulfillment. Despite battling the inner voice that whispered “I’m not brave enough,” she eventually embraced her passion and now empowers others to do the same. Her blend of deep empathy and gentle humor creates a safe space for clients to access the stories they didn’t know they could tell.
We dive into the collaborative nature of ghostwriting—far more personal and intimate than most people realize. Through thoughtful interviews and compassionate listening, Eilis helps her clients unpack the messy, raw, and often overlooked parts of their lives. “There’s no oversharing,” she reassures them, honoring the truth that our most vulnerable moments are often the most impactful.
Whether you’ve ever thought “I should write a book about this,” or simply long to share your story but feel unsure of your voice, this episode offers both inspiration and practical insight. As Eilis so beautifully puts it:
“Everything that’s happened in my life has led me here.”
A reminder that your story matters—and with the right support, it can reach hearts in ways you might never expect.
You can reach Eilis directly at: eilisolsonagency@gmail.com
Eilis Olson is a nonfiction ghostwriter who helps purpose-driven individuals turn their life stories into legacy-worthy books—with clarity, empathy, and expert support.
Welcome to Journey to Iconic
Speaker 1Welcome to the Journey to Iconic podcast, where we unlock your highest potentials through transformation and intuition. I'm your host, kirsten Barfoot, ceo of Journey to Iconic. Each week, we dive into the realms of personal growth, intuition and authentic leadership, guiding you to become the best version of yourself. Whether you're looking to enhance your personal brand, align with your true direction or tap into your inner wisdom, you're in the right place. Let's embark on this journey together and start transforming your life today. Hello, hello and welcome to this episode of Journey to Iconic, where I have a very special guest today, eilish Olson, and she is joining me, joining us, all the way from United States of America. So I'm here in Brisbane, and this is what I love about modern technology is that we get to communicate with people all over the world, and it feels like we are right here in each other's space. So welcome, eilish. Thank you so much for being here today.
From Accounting to Writing
Speaker 1Thank you, kirsten, I'm so excited thing that I love about Eilish is that she does storytelling in a way that I think you know, when people can talk about somewhat delicate subjects at times, and then there's this element of humor that comes out and for me it it drops it. You can kind of feel like, oh okay, there's a lightness that comes about, and what I want to capture from Eilish today is this this what seems so effortless and what seems it comes across as very, very natural and authentic, and how we might be able to tap into some of that wisdom, because, honestly, that humor is something that you know, I I feel like I have to work on to lighten some of these you know tricky subjects. So hopefully we can extract that wisdom from you today and tell me, eilish, like, how did you get started on this, on this journey? How did you feel this? Whatever it is the drawcard to what it is that you're doing today, feel this, whatever it is the drawcard to what it is that you're doing today.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean it was a combination of a few events and also loves in my life, First and foremost, my love of writing. Obviously, you know I'm a book ghostwriter and a copywriter, so I do love writing. There are some who don't and still go into that profession, but for me, that was the main driver behind me wanting to do this for a living. I always wanted to write for a living and it was something that I didn't think that I could do. You know, it wasn't something I thought would make me enough money and I'm definitely not one of those people who's all about money, but I do want to, you know, make a good living and provide for my family and all of that. And you know I don't have to my husband provides but it's just always been something that I've wanted to do.
Speaker 2So, I was an accountant for a few years and it wasn't something I was passionate about, so I still couldn't let go of my love of writing, just could not let it go. I was doing Google searches all the time. I had ads popping up and finally an ad popped up for a copywriting course in community and I let it sit in my inbox for like six months to a year because that imposter syndrome was so heavy. But finally I, you know, followed my intuition and that's something I know you talk about a lot, which I love your take on intuition. I finally learned to listen to that and I just joined that course in community and it naturally led to book ghostwriting and that's pretty much how I got here.
Speaker 1Wow, okay, what a story. I can't help but feel this innate connection to you when you mentioned accounting, because I started, I also started in accounting and finance. I never found the connection to it and it's funny that you then say, oh, I listened to my intuition. Because, you know, that is also in itself a journey to, for us to listen enough. And, you know, sometimes I think that we're going to allow those, those seeds, to germinate and there's like this journey that takes us to be ready for that writing course. You know what, what happened in between that year of you having seeing that that writing course to then, um, you know, were there some little nudges along the way that then made it like this is what I'm going to do?
Speaker 2I think it was. I honestly a few things. Um, first and foremost, I really wanted to be able to move closer to my family again. I am really close with my family and I was, with this accounting job. I was three hours away from them. Three and a half. My husband and I were. So, you know, we we traveled as often as we could and visited them, but for me that just wasn't enough. Three hours was way too far. So the main, that was the main thing for me was that I wanted to be closer to my family. So I was thinking, okay, I really need to, you know, figure out a job that I can either do from home or I'm going to have to apply elsewhere. And I love the company I was working with when I was doing accounting. But I just realized I wasn't passionate. Passionate about it, right, like I was good at it. I fell into it because I was good at it, but it just wasn't something that lit me up at all. So it was wanting to be closer to family and, of course, as I mentioned, it was that just love of writing. I've just always known that I wanted to do it. So I once I kind of realized that I could do both.
Speaker 2I I, you know started slowly. I didn't quit my job. At first I did my. I started running my business on the side, did that for a year and then, once I realized that I could go into it full time, that's when I finally made the decision. Talk to my husband he works from home too, so obviously it was also really nice to think about working from home with him and getting to spend more time with him. So all of these things were, it was it for me. Once I realized like, hey, I can have all of these things and, you know, spend more time with my husband, spend more time with my family. It was just, it was. It was such a blessing.
Speaker 1I was like I got, I got to go now.
Speaker 2I need to leave this accounting job and I need to just do what I was meant to do.
Speaker 1Ah, how wonderful, how wonderful. It sounds like a win, win, win, win, win, win, yeah, lots of wins, yeah, awesome. So tell me, tell me about some of the challenging moments, like you mentioned before about imposter syndrome. It's like you know, there's this, this little seed of of desire, because you, you know, you're good at something, you, you feel this connection to it and yet there's still like this little, maybe this little, these little words or something that comes up that says no, what, what were those words for you? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2So, first of all, I had imposter syndrome before I joined the coursing community which is why I sat on it for so long and that kind of took the form of the belief that I just wasn't brave enough to do this. You know, I was like I had this just nagging voice in my head telling me you're not brave enough to take this chance, you're not brave enough to start your own business, there's no way that you're going to do this. And I kept telling myself there's no way you're going to do this, no way that you're going to do this. And I kept telling myself there's no way you're going to do this. Almost immediately, when I had that thought, I was like, okay, now I need to prove myself wrong.
Speaker 2But it still took me a while to get there, because obviously limiting beliefs aren't something you can just work through in five minutes. They obviously take a lot of time to work through. So that was just one of the biggest limiting beliefs for me, not even just not being brave enough to start my own business. But you know, I have all these thoughts and beliefs about myself like, oh, I'm an introvert, I can't, you know, run my own business. I'd have to do this and be in a leadership position, which is really ironic because I've held leadership positions in various various stages of my life, including in college. So it's funny the stories that we tell ourselves, even when we have so much evidence that proves the opposite. But I was absolutely still telling myself those stories and believing them for a while until I finally decided that I didn't have to.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Speaker 1Right, nice. What I'm hearing as well is that there was a self-awareness to all of these things, so you were aware that you didn't feel brave enough, um, and aware of the stories, aware of, like, the limiting beliefs of I need to do this. Was there a process that you were following or was it, um, life showing you the processes? Were you actually engaged in, uh, in uncovering these, or were they being uncovered as a consequence of life or a bit of both?
Speaker 2I would say I'm just generally a self-aware person. I do a lot of introspection. I am always in my head because I'm an overthinker, I'm anxious, so constantly in my head so that that kind of process comes naturally to me. I'm always thinking you know, what can I do better, how can I improve myself? You know what is my part in this and all of that. So it was kind of just I, I, for as long as I can remember. Honestly, that's just kind of been how I am. I'm an anxious overthinker. I always overanalyze every single move and from your nodding I can tell that you were probably the exact same way.
Speaker 1Yeah, I can kind of relate to a lot of what you're saying. For sure, you know, I'm very reflective. I think I call it reflecting now because it's and I think it's that problem solving or that solution finding always, or that you said wanting to improve or wanting to be better. It's like, you know, there's this constant like I'm doing this, but how can I be better? I want to do that, so how do I do it? It's like thinking it is reflective. In fact I did do. You know? I do work with the, with the Jinkies, and he talks about contemplation and I think that that is actually a really good way of describing it, because it's that contemplative, it's rather than saying, oh, it's overthinking, because that's what we can relate to. But overthinking can be that spiral, whereas if you're contemplating, it's like there's that it's already putting into that, that solution finding. So that's what I was hearing from you is that there's questions that are solution seeking rather than like overthinking, which is spiraling. I don't know.
Speaker 2Yeah, I actually really appreciate that, the contemplation, I appreciate that word for it. It definitely sounds a lot more positive than overthinking, because I mean, as you're kind of saying, overthinking doesn't have to be a, you know, a bad thing, it doesn't have to be a weakness, it can really be a strength. Anything can really be a strength, you know, if you, if you figure out how to make it one and see it as one yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So I think also that's and and this is the the sort of thing that has, uh, you know, makes me want to interview you is that you know, and we were talking about you, you said, oh, do you, does your son like tennis? Because you know, and I said that was one of the the, the posts that I can remember from you, because there was this depth to. There was this depth to what you were writing about, and maybe you can tell it better than me, but the thing that that struck out was there was this depth that you were talking about. It wasn't a pleasant, necessarily pleasant subject, but it was the, this little bit of humor that came out and made it light that I thought you know how to tell a story. You know how to tell a story, so tell me a little bit about the technicality. Do you do it deliberately, too, or is it something that kind of just comes naturally, or what, what happens?
Storytelling with Authenticity and Humor
Speaker 2tell me a little bit about your process there yeah, yeah, I mean I, you know, I have to say I better be good at storytelling because that's what I do for other people, you know. And I also better be good at being transparent and being real because I encourage others to do so. So you know, practice what you preach is always a good motto to go by, especially in, you know, my profession. But, yeah, I mean, oh my gosh, the humor. I'm just so goofy, I have such a goofy personality but I also have dark humor. So humor is just as mainly how I cope with things. But you know there's there's also a balance to be had. I am definitely not afraid things, but you know there's there's also a balance to be had. I am definitely not afraid. I don't shy away from really hard topics, I don't shy away from hard conversations. So there's always a balance to be had with that. You know, finding that balance between sensitivity and empathy and then humor as well. So I really do try to strike a balance in my my, you know, content for social media or you know whatever it is, especially for clients. So it's, it is some of it's natural like that, that humor, it's definitely my sense of humor, you know, coming through and I.
Speaker 2A lot of times if you see a post that doesn't have humor, it's because it didn't just come to me. So usually when I, when I add something that I think is kind of funny in a post, it's because I was thinking about the post and writing it in my head in the shower post. It's because I was thinking about the post and writing it in my head in the shower. So that it's definitely. You know that I don't like to force it, otherwise it feels unnatural and it feels forced, you know. Um, so I definitely try to just kind of let it come to me. Um, and with that specific tennis post, it was probably me talking about that um, one match that I will never forget and I I added like part part two of three of how I made an ass out of myself on the tennis court.
Speaker 2You know I'm using humor to kind of cope with the fact that it was a really embarrassing time for me. And looking back on it sometimes I'm still like wow, that's embarrassing. But you know also, I was in high school and we all have to learn lessons the hard way, so humor is the best way to to, you know, talk through these things.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah, it sounds like a little bit of an M&M move, like you know how it's. Like just you, you throw it out there because you either mention it or other people will mention it, and so it's sort of like that disarming, isn't it?
Speaker 2Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1Yeah. So I loved what you said about not forcing it. So it either comes to you and then you use it, but if it doesn't come, you don't actually use it. So I love that because I guess, from a perspective of, like you know, people want to have this authentic communication. It's like, um, you're saying, or I'm hearing you say that, um, you're naturally goofy, so so it's like you're bringing out that personality that's naturally there and um, you know, so now you're ghostwriting for other people. Um, do you find that you naturally draw to yourself people who have that same kind of um idiosyncrasy? Or like, do you have people who are really, really serious and then you bring that like what? Tell me a little bit about the dynamic of the people who you're working with and how that might differ when you're writing for them.
Speaker 2I was laughing because I have had like both ends of the spectrum, like I have worked with really really serious clients who I get on a call with them. And you know, some people just aren't as comfortable face to face, you know they're. I mean, I'm an introvert but I would describe myself as an extroverted introvert. So some people are really true introverts. You know you have to have to build that trust and that's that's another reason I either love, you know, working with my copywriting clients long term or doing a book ghostwriting project, because book ghostwriting obviously you're really getting to know someone's story and you're really building up that trust and getting to know them. So it's kind of, you know, you get to see people's walls come down a little bit when you're working with that. But I, you know essentially the way that I find that balance is by. You know I don't try to insert my voice anywhere because it's not mine, you know it's not my story, it's not my voice. So it's really just making sure that I have the right processes in place to capture their voice and their style. And I don't know if you want me to go into detail about, like that process and everything. But so the main thing, especially for book writing, is author interviews. You know, talking to them face to face, collecting their stories and all the information that I need.
Speaker 2A lot of people, when they hear you know, oh, what's a book ghostwriter? Do and they're, they're worried that somebody, if somebody, writes their book, it's not their book. You know that's a question times that you'll get and the answer obviously is yes, it's your book because it's your stories, it's your experiences, it's your perspectives and ideas and insights. But essentially I'm just collecting those and I'm helping you find the right words that will not only convey your story in a way that connects with your ideal reader, but, you know, also, it's just, I guess what's the word I'm looking for?
The Book Ghostwriting Process
Speaker 2It's effective storytelling, you know, because storytelling is not something that's easy to do. A lot of people struggle with it. There are people who get on stage and they're able to speak and tell stories and they're fantastic at it, but sometimes those same people are the people who will sit down and they just can't write. They're not writers, you know. It's something completely different. So I'm just bringing those skills to the table and helping them tell their story. But it's absolutely their book and the same, it's the same thing when you're writing someone's copy.
Speaker 1I love it. I love it. So I I'm kind of hearing. This is what I'm hearing is that you're bringing um a level of genius out in somebody else yeah, like somebody else has all of this stuff, yeah, that they can't necessarily get out onto that in that medium.
Speaker 1And you're helping them to extract that by interviewing them, getting their insights. Because I think when you look from the outside, outside in, you can see a lot more than what sometimes we, you know it's all, it's all blocked, we've all. We've all heard our own stories so many many times.
Speaker 2But when somebody else gets it, they can say it or feel it in a different way yes, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, because we often are too close to our own situation. And if it's, you know, if you're writing, for example, a memoir like I'm writing a memoir for a client right now, then that's usually a really personal story. Or you know a collection of really personal stories with a really I mean, sometimes serious theme. Usually it is, you know, for a memoir, I mean sometimes serious theme. Um, usually it is, you know, for a memoir. You're trying to teach your readers some lesson, and so it is helpful to have somebody who can bring that outside perspective but also, once again, still help you, um, you know, still help you tell your story and share your insights in your voice. Um, and, yeah, I mean it's. It's really like you get that kind of best of both worlds when you're working with a book ghostwriter. I love it?
Speaker 1Do you ever find that you? Do you ever challenge the ideas of? I'm asking that, like for a friend might be asking because I wrote a book. I wrote a book, um, and you know it went through all the typical process of editing and all of the things, but I felt like I wanted to be challenged on some of my ideas. Um, to get a little bit more depth. Do do you do that with your clients?
Speaker 2I actually just wrote a post on this earlier this week. It was like something along the lines of do I accept my clients edits as is? And the answer was you know, of course it's your copy, it's your book and you ultimately have the final say. But I am 100% going to challenge you on, you know, if there's, if there's a stylistic choice that I don't think either fits in with what you want to accomplish or it doesn't, or you know it's not going to speak to your ideal reader and in the way that you want it to. So it's like it's my job to to bring that outside perspective and help, because you know I'm all about helping my clients accomplish their goals and speak to their ideal reader. So it really depends on those two things. So, you know, sometimes my clients suggest an edit and I don't think it's going to fit in with with either their ideal reader or their goals, and so then it's up to me to bring that to their attention and, as I said, they get the final say. But I will absolutely challenge clients on edits and certain ideas, but it's it's very important to do that.
Speaker 2I feel like in this profession. You really have to care about this profession to succeed in it and that was part of my post too and you really have to care about your clients and their success, because if you don't, it'd be really easy to just say okay to all the edits, you know, just keep checking them off, a new Google Doc and not challenge them at all. But if you care about your clients and you want them to succeed and you want them to accomplish what they want to accomplish with their story, then you owe it to them to challenge them sometimes.
Speaker 1I love it, I love it and I love that. So we started. You said I'm not brave enough to do this, and yet I think it would take immense bravery and courage to actually challenge people on their ideas or their edits. How do they take it?
Speaker 2I've never really had an adverse client reaction. Honestly, I love it of doing this. I was way more nervous to do it. It was, you know, very scary to have to bring something up to a client like, oh I don't think this is going to, you know work, I don't think this is going to fit in. So you kind of just have to force yourself to do it and it becomes a little easier. But I won't claim that it's easy. Still, I definitely get nervous, especially in the beginning of that, you know, client relationship, when you're still kind of learning how they like to communicate, how you communicate, and so you're trying to communicate, you know, in a, in a way that they will understand and in a way that they'll appreciate, because everybody's so different. And the other thing you have to be careful of is when you're over talking over email or talking over text.
Speaker 2You know things can be taken out of context. You can't really like. You know you can't tell what tone they're saying it in. So it's just for me. It's all about really considering my words carefully, um, and also just explaining why I'm challenging them on it. I find that if you explain your reasoning for things, then people are hardly ever going to have a problem with what you're suggesting.
Speaker 1A problem with what you're suggesting? Yeah, cool, cool. So I'm hearing. What am I hearing? I'm hearing extraction of wisdom. So if somebody is like considering looking to write a book, so do you have a particular? Is it memoirs that you write typically, or is it? Yeah, so it's kind of an umbrella nonfiction books.
Speaker 2So that's usually memoirs, personal development books or business building books Pretty much anything that falls under the nonfiction umbrella, but those three are pretty much the main types of books that fall under that category. But essentially I just really like helping people. I love reading fiction, but I really like helping people. I love reading fiction, but I really like when I work with people and I'm writing their books. I really prefer to help them share their stories so they can inspire and motivate others. That's where my passion lies. When it comes to the actual book, ghostwriting as opposed to reading, because I love to read everything. Fantasy is one of my favorite genres to read, but it's not the same when I'm writing someone's book.
Speaker 1Yes, well, yeah, especially if it's a business book, I suppose it needs to have an element of, like you know, process and structure to it, which actually I found out when I was writing my book. And, you know, are you familiar with what's his name? Steven Pressfield.
Speaker 2I'm not sure it sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm going to say no, okay.
Speaker 1Yeah, Well, anyway, he, he did inspire me because he said you know you've got to write your first draft. Is do you, are you, do you go through a process where you write the first draft and it's not, um, not like editing, or do you edit all the way through it?
Speaker 2Yeah. So how I do it with clients is I give them the first. So you know, in the beginning we're still getting their tone, their style and all of that. So I don't write the whole manuscript right away, otherwise, otherwise that would be a huge mess. You know, giving them an entire manuscript only for them to say this doesn't sound like me at all.
Speaker 2So usually what I do is you know, I write the first chapter, I send it over to them for their review so they can review for, like, as I said, style, tone, voice, all of that stuff, and then, after I get those edits back, I take that feedback into consideration. Then I write the whole thing, now that I kind of know what I'm doing in terms of their voice. Write the whole thing now that I kind of know what I'm doing in terms of their voice, and then I we have one round of edits. So absolutely like a kind of messy first draft. But it's it's necessary to, you know, get that idea of what the client wants, because when you're writing someone's book, the last thing you want to do is gamble and write the entire thing, only for them to say I really don't like this or this is not what I had in mind at all them to say I really don't like this or this is not what I had in mind at all, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Do you find that people so, through part of your process, do you feel that sometimes they find out things about themselves that they forgot about or didn't think was important, or that you have a little twist to it that adds a different flavor to something that they can then add to to their, their bag of tricks?
Speaker 2Yes, yes, absolutely. I mean, you know, when you're, when you're thinking about the experiences you've had and the, the ideas that you have, it's kind of. I feel like it's kind of impossible to not discover new things about yourself or about you know life along the way, especially when you're working on something as personal as a memoir, there's always going to be stuff that comes up where it's kind of a light bulb moment, especially when you have somebody like I'm asking them questions and author interviews that they might not have even thought to ask themselves before. So that's like another thing that you have to think about.
Speaker 1I love it, I love it. So, so, what stage? So if, if you were talking to your person and they're like you know, are they thinking about writing a book? Do how, how, what if I was wanting a ghostwriter? Like, what, what, what, what are the questions that I'm asking myself, like, or, um, am I just thinking about writing a book? Or what's happening for?
Speaker 2me, yeah. So I mean I do offer free book consultations and what those look like is walking people through my my non-fiction book planner. So this is usually after somebody already has an idea of what they want their book to be about. And sometimes those people aren't ready. So whenever I'm doing these consultations it's never a hard sell. I'm not pitching them. If they decide, okay, I'm ready to work with a book ghostwriter, then of course afterwards I tell them what's involved in all of that.
Speaker 2But I have had plenty of people, you know, come to me. It's either the price or you know it's where they are in the process, or you know it's just so many different things, so many different possible objections to why someone might not be ready. But when, when people are actually ready, they're thinking you know, okay, I have this goal for my book in mind. You know, this is what I kind of want it to do for me, and there are usually a lot of secondary goals. But as I, as I kind of show people when I'm walking them through my book planner, you want to have a primary goal and then you can have those.
Speaker 2You know secondary goals after that. But you really want to determine what you want your book to do for you before you start writing it, and that's one of the most important things to figure out. Otherwise you're just kind of writing, you know, without a goal in mind, and you can kind of get lost along the way. So usually when people come to me and they're like, okay, I'm ready to work with a book ghostwriter, they have that goal in mind. They have a general idea of you know what they want the book to be about and they they have stories that they want to share.
Speaker 1Yeah, cool and um uh, how long does the process usually take?
Speaker 2um, it's usually four to six months. However, I have had it take um. How long did?
Speaker 2oh, no, actually no, that project was six months never mind, I was like thinking through it in my head I'm like, no, that it just felt it felt long. It was a great project, but it just, you know it felt long. Um, but yeah, usually four to six months. Kind of just depends on, um, how available their availability for author interviews, um, and then you know how quick we are with the edits and everything. So it depends on those, those main two things, do you?
Speaker 1take care of the whole process, or so, um, like the, the design, or is that something that you facilitate them with, or am I? These might be too detailed right now, but you know, like how much of the process do you take care of for them and what then they need to consider as well?
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, so I do offer support in other areas, but what I do is after we complete the book, I take on more of an advisory role, um, which is something I always tell people in our consultations. Um, so what that looks like is I do have an editor. Um, my editor is actually my my book ghostwriting mentor. He is amazing. He was a book ghostwriter himself and he wrote a lot of bestsellers for his clients, and now he's just doing mentoring. So he's amazing, he's my editor, which is great because, you know, then my clients get this ghostwriter, who's even more experienced than I am, you know, behind the scenes, like working, editing their book and and also providing suggestions for flow and all of that just story-wise. And then I also I've been working on building out my connections too, but my mentor also has a lot of connections because he was in the industry, you know, helping clients with the exact same thing for so long.
The Importance of Sharing Your Story
Speaker 2So I do. So it's like I don't do the editing, I don't do the publishing, but I have an editor, I have people that I send people to, you know, so I can connect people to publishers, and so I've also been working on building out my network with more publishers because I like to give my clients the option with all three different types of publishing. So I know people in each of those areas, so traditional, hybrid and self-published. No matter what route they want to go, I have people that I can send them to.
Speaker 1Sounds like you know your stuff.
Speaker 2That was a really long-winded answer to a short question too. No, no.
Speaker 1I think depth is great. I love the answers to those questions and you know. Just coming back to you think it's important for somebody to write a book. Is there a commonality between why people want to write a book, or is it? Why do you think it's important for people to write a book, or to get to get a book out into the world?
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, I think that there are a couple different reasons why people might want to get their story out there and why it's important to them. You know, I think when we think about goals for your book, right, you kind of have your goals for yourself, so the author has their goals for themselves and you have your goals for your ideal readers. So I think a lot of people come at it with the idea that they're they're writing their book because they have a story that they're really excited to share or they really feel like needs to be out there. Maybe it's even a healing process for them, or maybe it's just simply that they want to share their story.
Speaker 2You know, some people I hear so many people say I've said it before like, oh, I should write a book about my life. Or you know I've said it before like, oh, I should write a book about my life. Or you know, I should write a book about this. So I think that we all kind of naturally want to share our stories. For, you know, I mean we want to relate to people and the best way to do that is with stories. So I think that there's like that personal motivation and also I think that people want to inspire and motivate others. You know that there's that desire to help others and I think that writing a book and sharing your own experiences and the insights that you gained from those experiences, I think that that's one of the best ways to inspire and motivate others.
Speaker 1Yeah, I love it. I love it and I think that's what you know. When it comes to storytelling, that's one of the connective factors with people, isn't it Like? How we connect with other people is through stories. It's how we connect it, because you share great stories.
Speaker 1You know and you know and you know. I think I was one of those people who, when I was writing my book, wouldn't have considered a ghostwriter because of the reasons that you said is like, is it my own words? Is it my own things, writing my own book and doing it the hard way? And now meeting you and hearing what you have to say, I think it would be perspective of what you're offering and the type of process that you engage. It sounds like that, that, that that that process can actually be made so much better by engaging somebody to support you with that journey.
Speaker 2I appreciate that. I'm so excited that I kind of made you a convert. You know, there's the other thing too. You know, people just have such a desire to share their stories and if they, a lot of the times, if they don't work with somebody to have them write it for them, they're, you know, they're going to keep saying, oh, I'll do it someday. Because ultimately, as I'm sure you know, writing a book takes so much time I don't, I don't remember what the average is, but it's, it's hundreds of hours especially for people who it's their first book. You know, they've never written one. And, once again, when you're so close to your own story, you can be hypercritical of everything you're writing, which just slows the process down even more so if you're, if you're really serious about getting your story out there, but you're not a writer, or you don't have time, or you are a writer but you're hyper critical of yourself and you just can't. You know there are so many reasons why you should work with a ghostwriter and those are only a few. But yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1I can tell you that it's a. It's a. It's a. It's a personal challenge, like writing your own book is the personal challenge. And there were so many uh moments that, um, I remember thinking this is really hard, like you had to. I had to challenge myself the whole way through it and then I, and then I think you know what would it be like if I had somebody like you going okay, we, we can get through this. I just feel this sense of release going yeah, we, we can do this together.
Speaker 2Like you know because it's different, isn't it?
Speaker 1it's different when somebody's in your corner going, look, this is just, you're going to get through this. This is what about this, what about this? I think, yeah, anyway, uh, so next time we'll do that. Yes, sounds great. So do you find that? Do you find that you support people through those tricky times, like, do your clients ever feel challenged that are they making the right choice? Do people want to know about this? Have I got what people want to know about this? Have I have I got what people want to know about? Like, do you ever feel like you get that kind of thing happen? Absolutely.
Speaker 2Especially in that initial consultation. I mean, there are a lot of people who come in with those limiting beliefs. You know, whether it's I don't think that my story is interesting enough, or you know who's going to listen to me, I'm not qualified. There are so many of those limiting beliefs and they really are common, especially because, I mean, writing a book is no small feat and you know, obviously it can be really scary putting yourself out there and telling your story and being vulnerable and honest. So those limiting beliefs are very prominent when people are thinking about writing their book very prominent when, when people are thinking about writing their book.
Speaker 2And so how do you support them through that, like what's just you being a little bit of a reality check first, you know, just talk them through it. It helps when you, you know, because so many people have have written books when they weren't quite ready, have done amazing things when they weren't quite ready. So I find it's helpful to talk about the fact that you know if somebody else has done it, then they can too. And just I just really take the time to talk with them and talk through you know why. Why do you think this addressing those limiting beliefs it's.
Speaker 2You know, I always tell my clients you have to address the limiting beliefs of your ideal readers when you're writing your book. And it's something that I have to address, the limiting beliefs of your ideal readers when you're writing your book. And it's something that I have to do with my clients, as I'm, you know, walking them through this process, even people, potential clients, who haven't become clients yet. You know, it's really important to be able to address those objections head on, because we all have limiting beliefs and they can really stop us in our tracks.
Speaker 1Yeah, I love it and I love the self-awareness. Our tracks yeah, I love it and I love the self-awareness, and I think that that's what makes you so, so approachable and so such a natural fit for this, because I think that you know it's. It is something that has to be handled with sensitivity, and you have to understand it for yourself before you can understand it for other people, don't you? So that's awesome, and I'm sure that you give that courage or that bravery, which you had to step into, to your clients as well, Absolutely yeah. So those embarrassing moments on the on the tennis court actually supported you to do what you do now.
Speaker 2Yes, absolutely. I always say that I have no regrets. You know everything, everything that I've done in my life, everything that's happened in my life, has led me here. So I like to, you know, keep looking forward, even if I am still a little bit embarrassed looking back on that stuff, which I definitely am. But you know I, I keep moving forward with humor and try to learn from it. Um, and sometimes I'm a little too hard on myself about, about that stuff, but, um, all you can do is, you know, just try to try to be better. I can. I'm proud to say that I can play tennis for fun now without, without screaming at myself and smacking my racket on my shoes. So I've made great progress and well done Well done.
Speaker 2It wasn't easy getting here.
Speaker 1No, and I think it never is easy getting there, but it's what makes the journey so rich, you know, and I think, look, you know, tell me how you feel, or how does it work? Do you try to get the real stuff from people when you're writing, when they're getting their story out, like is it all the good stuff, or do you, like, get that real, that stuff that makes them real, or am I just using my own words here?
Speaker 2Sorry, but that authenticity, the real, authentic stuff, which is sometimes not the glamour, real, you know the glamour reel, you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, I think honestly, thus far I have been pretty fortunate to have clients that are willing to be open. But, you know, I think sometimes it takes like follow-up questions and a little bit of I mean not a little bit a lot of building trust, as I mentioned before, to really get people to open up more, because some topics are really difficult to talk about and you know it's, if it's your personal story and you've you've had some, some difficult situations in your life and some some really, you know, feelings that you buried, then it can be really hard to you know, you're like, okay, all of a sudden I'm going to share that with the world. I've been burying this stuff, you know, for a really long time and now I have to share it. So it's, you know, for me I, like I said, I've been really lucky, I've had very open clients.
Speaker 2But I think if I had a client that wasn't, you know, as open and who was kind of resistant to letting themselves feel and open up more, then I would definitely just kind of lean into questioning, not not grilling them, not interrogating them, but just, you know, really questioning, like, their feelings behind certain situations and you know just their perception of how it affected them. So I would just go in with the line of questioning, a gentle approach, like I said, not grilling them because nobody likes that, but I like to think that I could find the right balance. Like I said, if I had a client like that, I love to think that I could find the right balance.
Creating Space for Vulnerability
Speaker 1Um like, I said, if I had a client like that, I love it. I think curiosity is the most amazing gift we can give to other people. Um, you know, and especially um, with that extraction of those, because you know some of those, because you know some of those, you know those tricky stories, those embarrassing moments, they can end up being such a profound connection piece for other people you know. And so for having somebody help you with those tricky emotions and you being able to take that wisdom and then take the emotion out of it, or not, not in a way that loses the, the reality of it, but doesn't make it so um, uh, what's, what's the word I'm, what's the word I'm trying to find here, like triggering. Maybe triggering is something that might be triggering for us. If we have that open channel with someone, you can take that information and it's, it lands in a in a way that it's. Am I making sense?
Speaker 2yes, yes, absolutely. And I think I think another thing too if I had a client like that is, you know, giving, giving, just making the environment and the situation as comfortable as possible. For example, if somebody didn't want to talk face to face, because I would understand, you know if you're, if you're talking about something that's really hard for you to talk about, you probably don't want somebody sitting here staring at you. You know you're going to be thinking too much about the faces they're making and you know if they're seeing you and your facial expressions, so giving them the options to just do it over the phone. If I had a client that wanted to do that, I would absolutely accommodate that. That might be a little bit off topic, but it was just something I was thinking about.
Speaker 1I think that is absolutely perfect, because what I'm hearing you say is that you're holding them in a space of safety, a place where they can be real, speak what needs to be spoken in a nonjudgmental way that allows them to really bring forth that wisdom and that depth that they are here to share.
Speaker 2Absolutely yeah. I recently had a call with somebody and they mentioned that they might've been oversharing. I told her I was like there's nothing you can say.
Speaker 1There's no oversharing.
Speaker 2I was like this is what I love to do for a living Bless you. I was like this is what I love to do for a living. You know, I love hearing people's stories. I don't judge, or, you know, I don't judge more than, of course, we all. We all judge inwardly, you know, we're always judging all the time, but but I do have a lot of empathy for people and you know, I really love seeing, I love hearing people open up and I admire them for doing so. So I, you know, I told her I was like there's really no oversharing when it comes to, you know, this conversation. You can tell me anything. I'm like I nothing is going to make me feel, you know, like you overstepped any boundaries.
Speaker 1I love that and I mean, I can relate to this because, you know, in my work as well it's like sometimes you need to have that. I don't want to hear the same story over and, over and, over and over again. But sometimes you need that real messy stuff to get the context so that you, they can feel that that release of whatever it is, the you get the real stuff and then you can put that into the context of what, what is really needing to be. So I, I think that's, that's beautiful. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2Thank you. Thank you for being that person for people. Yeah, I mean, I don't think I'd be very good at what I do if I didn't.
Speaker 1Yeah, so tell me okay. So we have gone through how it started. A little bit about your process, the kind of people that you work with, and is there anything that you would love to share with people in terms of, like, if people are on the fence or they're like I don't know, I haven't really thought about this, but you're speaking to me, what would you love to just speak to them.
Speaker 2I mean, you know, it never hurts to ask. As I mentioned, I I'm not about the hard sell, I'm not about the the really salesy pitch. That's why I offer those consultations. So it's actually a really good place to be if you're on the fence, because you can have that consultation with me. And what I do actually is when I'm walking them through that planner, I basically help them hash out details for their book and important things that they need to determine before they start writing it them what that entails. If they don't want to work with me or they don't even want to hear about working with me, then that's fine and there are no hard feelings. So I always like to leave. You know, if I'm going to have those conversations, I always like to leave them with something. So they get that nonfiction book planner, whether they decide to work with me or not.
Speaker 1Oh, isn't that wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'll have all your details in the script below and people will be able to contact you. What is the best way for people to contact you?
Speaker 2Usually just my email, eilish Olson agency at gmailcom. I'm sure I'm sure it'll be down there, but I'm just going to say it out loud. And people can reach out to me on LinkedIn. I just usually don't recommend that over email, because you know email, I'll see it right away. Linkedin there's that extra, you know, connection barrier and sometimes those connection requests can get lost. So it's always just best to just reach out to me directly. That's usually what I prefer.
Speaker 1Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for your insight and your wisdom today, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 2Yes, thank you so much. It was really fun. Thank you for giving me the space to blab on and on about what I love to do.
Closing Thoughts and Connections
Speaker 1Thank you for joining me on this episode of journey to iconic podcast. I hope you found inspiration and practical insights to help you unlock your highest potential. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, rate and leave a review to help others find us For more resources and to connect with our community. Follow Kirsten Barford on LinkedIn and other socials or visit our website at wwwkirstenbarfordcom. Remember your journey to Iconics starts with embracing your unique self and stepping into your power. Until next time, keep moving forward, trust yourself and remember I've got you.