A Career Coaching Renaissance

It was almost five years ago that I created a vision and mission statement to take my coaching practice to the next level.  I had a full and fulfilling career coaching practice, but I thought that if I could make a difference in the lives of a few hundred people, why not reach out to 100,000 people and help them find careers that they were passionate about.  That would mean that I would have to reinvent myself and become an author and speaker. I knew it wouldn’t be easy—very few books that are published sell in those quantities, and the chances of getting a major publisher to publish a manuscript by a new author is less than 1 in 300.

About six months after I wrote my vision statement I found the opportunity I was looking for.  Some might call it a lucky break—I call it synchronicity based on the vision I had created—when I met my future co-author, Ken Schuman. We brought complementary skills to the table, and we both had an extraordinary network of contacts that could help us create and market the book we both wanted to write.

It took a year to do the research and write the first draft of our book.  Actually, what we had was three chapters, a book concept and outline, and two hundred of pages of notes.  We sent a brief proposal and sample chapters to an agent that Ken knew.  She liked the writing, but felt that it lacked the high concept that would distinguish it from the other coaching books that were out there. It was back to the drawing board.

After much brainstorming and head scratching we finally hit on a concept that we thought would work.  We both shared the philosophy that an individual’s greatness was already inside them and the coaching process would help them to remove whatever blocks were holding them back from having a great career and life.  I had used as an example Michelangelo’s chipping away at the marble in which he believed his masterpieces were encased. Michelangelo certainly had an extraordinary career – actually three, as a sculptor, painter, and architect. Perhaps research of Michelangelo’s career would reveal other strategies for an extraordinary life that we could relate to creating an extraordinary life in the contemporary world. 

Ken and I began to research Michelangelo’s career.  We were fortunate that there were many biographies by Renaissance contemporaries and later authors available.  After much research we felt that we had struck gold. We began to incorporate these strategies we uncovered in our coaching and in workshops.  It took another year to complete the first draft of the manuscript, which is now titled “The Michelangelo Method: Release Your Inner Masterpiece and Create an Extraordinary Life.” 

Once again synchronicity and our focus on what was possible helped us to find a high concept for our book that would get the attention of the next agent we sent the manuscript to.  This time our agent liked the writing and liked the concept.  As most first-time authors know, that isn’t enough to get picked up by a major publisher.  The next hurdle was having a platform, our connection into the world, which would enable us to reach enough potential buyers for our book to sell in the quantities that big-name publishers expect.  Our agent was savvy about the need for a powerful platform and suggested that we begin building a platform even before she started to shop the manuscript around to potential publishers.

We created an attractive web site.  We began a newsletter and started to capture names of subscribers through our web site.  We increased workshop activity and started to present to associations and other groups. We created a book proposal that included a marketing plan for promoting our book. We reached out to everyone we knew who might help us to get known and listed those connections in our proposal.

Now we were ready.  Our agent sent our book proposal including the concept statement, three sample chapters, chapter summaries, and marketing plan to major publishers who might be interested in this type of book.  Several editors from major publishing companies were interested but we did not get past the marketing people who believed we did not have a big enough platform.  Finally a senior editor at McGraw-Hill liked our book and she and marketing team thought that we could build the platform needed in the year between the time they bought the book and the time it would be published.

Ken and I still have a long way to go, but we are on the right track. I heard Jack Canfield, co-author of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series of books, speak about his experiences in turning their first book into a best seller (more than 80 million copies of the “Chicken Soup” series have been sold). He said he and his co-author did five things every day to promote his book. I’m convinced that persistence and consistency will help me to achieve the vision that I crafted nearly five years ago.  And a belief that anything is possible.

Ron and Ken invite you to visit their web site, http://www.michelangelomethod.com to learn more about their book. They offer a Michelangelo Method training and licensing program and if you are a career coach and would like to learn about the benefits of incorporating this methodology in your practice and gaining exposure please contact Ron at Ron@michelangelomethod.com.