In this insightful Beyond Hope Project podcast episode, Erin Galloway, a multifaceted personality as a mom, author, and podcast host, shares her enriching life experiences. Erin’s academic background in Human Development & Family Science and her journey through significant personal losses provide a unique perspective on resilience and empathy. She talks about her venture, Habitize Publishing, and her passion for guiding authors in their publishing journey. The episode delves into the lessons learned from parenthood and personal adversities, highlighting Erin’s innovative and empathetic approach to life. Her story is an inspiring narrative of overcoming challenges, fostering creativity, and the transformative power of supportive relationships.
CONNECT WITH ERIN:
✩ Website: https://presspublishpodcast.substack.com/
✩ IG: https://www.instagram.com/presspublishpodcast
✩ Spilled Confetti - 101 Lessons to Simplify Self-Publishing: Unique Bookish Gift for Aspiring Authors & Young Writers https://a.co/d/aCUVHES
CONNECT WITH JASON:
✩ Website - https://www.jasontharp.com
✩ BHP - https://www.beyondhopeproject.com
✩ Beyond Hope Project Podcast - https://www.jasontharp.com/podcast
✩ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wondervillestudios/
✩ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wondervillestudios
✩ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thepowerupproject?_t=8e4jxMT9QFP&_r=1
✩ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beyondhopeproject
OFFICIAL SHOP & BOOKSTORE:
📚 https://www.jasontharp.com/shop
MEET JASON:
Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!
For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason
In this insightful Beyond Hope Project podcast episode, Erin Galloway, a multifaceted personality as a mom, author, and podcast host, shares her enriching life experiences. Erin’s academic background in Human Development & Family Science and her journey through significant personal losses provide a unique perspective on resilience and empathy. She talks about her venture, Habitize Publishing, and her passion for guiding authors in their publishing journey. The episode delves into the lessons learned from parenthood and personal adversities, highlighting Erin’s innovative and empathetic approach to life. Her story is an inspiring narrative of overcoming challenges, fostering creativity, and the transformative power of supportive relationships.
CONNECT WITH ERIN:
✩ Website: https://presspublishpodcast.substack.com/
✩ IG: https://www.instagram.com/presspublishpodcast
✩ Spilled Confetti - 101 Lessons to Simplify Self-Publishing: Unique Bookish Gift for Aspiring Authors & Young Writers https://a.co/d/aCUVHES
CONNECT WITH JASON:
✩ Website - https://www.jasontharp.com
✩ BHP - https://www.beyondhopeproject.com
✩ Beyond Hope Project Podcast - https://www.jasontharp.com/podcast
✩ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wondervillestudios/
✩ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wondervillestudios
✩ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thepowerupproject?_t=8e4jxMT9QFP&_r=1
✩ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beyondhopeproject
OFFICIAL SHOP & BOOKSTORE:
📚 https://www.jasontharp.com/shop
MEET JASON:
Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!
For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason
when I'm not forcing a project and all these other projects that have just happened and people are like is it luck
0:08
does it just fall in your lap are you just that cool that like these things happen and I'm like I think they're just
0:14
aligned I think they're supposed to be um put in front of me and then I choose
0:20
to pick them up because they feel like they're the right time and so I would say to people you know to force a
0:28
process I'm not saying don't push yourself right don't CH I want you to challenge yourself but where there's
0:35
other things or other projects or other ideas that naturally fall into place
0:41
just trust that process um because that's where I feel like the real magic
0:50
[Music]
0:56
is Aaron it is good to see you we've been friends for a while now um had a
1:04
pretty cool Journey had to you know you got all these degrees I feel like so honored like I'm I feel like I should have like talked with my pinky out or
1:11
something here and get extra sophisticated so how are you doing no no no we are
1:17
here to be real and genuine and authentic and that has been part of our friendship is that we have just we were
1:23
introduced we showed up in a coffee shop together for the first time and our
1:28
Journeys have taken us both in wildly different directions from where we both started and somehow our lives continued
1:37
to intertwin which must be meant to be absolutely um even when we live in completely different places so it's
1:43
always a joy to talk to you yeah and congratulations just learned at marriage like I you know yay happy for you that
1:49
is so awesome I see from all your posts that how excited and happy you are so it's so great to see that smile on your
1:55
face so congratulations uh but yeah we definitely have had a uh uh you know we
2:02
both have chased multiple paths you know and helped each other along the way and
2:07
have ran and then come back and check in and so it's really cool um and so when
2:13
to jump into the podcast I want to what we do on here is we talk about Hope and I want to give you the definition of
2:19
Hope first so how we Define hope is a little different than what you're going to find in the dictionary we Define hope
2:24
as a moment of impact a starting point okay and you're going to go out and
2:30
Venture on your journey and you're going to try to figure stuff out and eventually you're going to fail hope also is that way back to your path it's
2:37
the spark that'll bring you back to finding what that is so the first question I have for you out of the gate
2:43
um is if Aaron can go back to any point in her life and provide
2:50
hope knowing that definition what would it be and like what age or What scenario
2:56
would that be that you would want to do that you know I was prepared for you to come out of the gate with like a solid
3:03
hard-hitting question um and you know with that definition as I really like
3:11
settle into how you describe hope you know when I was 15 I lost a parent um
3:19
and so for me I would go back to that place and say you have no idea how
3:26
empathy will grow within you from having such a difficult traumatic experience as
3:32
a child how it will lead you down a path in a career of human development and
3:37
family science and human behaviors um and how ultimately it will
3:44
serve you in relationships in adulthood to understand those who have lost family
3:50
members and Partners at a young age and kids that also then lose family members
3:56
at a young age um it has served me throughout my entire life in ways that I
4:01
never could have predicted um and I wish I could have seen the potential in that
4:07
back when I was 15 yeah did you did you feel like that you had to grow up quick
4:12
or was it did you feel like you grow up quick or did you did you kind of want to
4:18
fall into some sort of pit for a little bit did what was that experience like you know I think the people around
4:25
me were so supportive um not in a way in which they were in denial of what I was
4:31
experiencing but more like you can get through this uh and so it did it I think
4:39
in many ways led me to mature faster than others um it also led me to again
4:46
have this experience that could make me very relatable um and people who were
4:52
also experiencing something very deep and personal within their own family I
4:57
learned really on were more willing to share something with me because they knew very publicly um that I had had
5:05
something happen to me and many of their experiences were more private um so I
5:10
found out that I became kind of a a keeper of Secrets or difficult truths
5:15
very early on um which I think contributed to sort of that growing up
5:21
faster than maybe I needed to yeah that that's awesome and did that did that
5:26
ultimately lead you to to go into human development and all of those other things that you're talking about was so
5:32
was there I guess in a sense that kind of planted a seed you know of because
5:38
you you had that support I'm guessing is what really kind of did it right um is
5:43
there was there anything in particular that somebody did for you in those moments that
5:49
really I would say solidified or watered that seed that said I want to be like
5:55
that person for somebody else um I I remember being willing to talk about it and
6:01
people really appreciating that and it felt like the more I was willing to talk about something so difficult the again
6:08
the more people were willing to share with me um and I can vividly remember in
6:13
freshman English class where I had to write a paper and I chose to write a
6:19
paper that was part fiction part non-fiction about losing a parent um and
6:24
I remember my professor at the time having a very clear reaction to that paper
6:29
um and I kept it I still have that paper that I wrote along with her comments and
6:35
so there was something that made me believe that if I was willing to share my story and walk through that truth
6:42
that there must be a purpose um and so that's what did lead me to pursue um
6:48
both kind of family Dynamics early childhood and how that impacts you later in life um and then you know really I
6:56
focused on adolescent development um later in my academic years that's awesome and so how how being a mom has
7:03
that enhanced all that stuff because we talked about in your bio about how important a parent being a parent has
7:10
taught you and uh you know I know for a while that you were kind of rolling on it by yourself on some stuff and I'm
7:17
sure that learned a lot so maybe you can like kind of give a little insight on some of that
7:23
stuff yeah you know really um it gave me an appreciation for non not making the
7:31
small moments feel too small you know when you lose a chunk of your childhood
7:37
by not having that parent there um you know you for me I came to realize that
7:43
there are so many small moments um that I never got to have with mine that I
7:48
wanted to make sure that my daughter very clearly remembered about me um so
7:54
our bond was really really thick um and still is but that's because I always
8:00
approach parenting with no regret just no regret at all um in regards to
8:06
co-parenting it was really important for me for my daughter to have a strong relationship with her dad because I knew
8:12
how not having that how that influenced me later um and so yeah so I was very
8:18
cognizant of it and how it could have negatively impacted me um but I didn't
8:25
want sort of my experience to potentially pass on to her so I always kept thinking you know how
8:32
can I make sure that she feels um you know no regrets in regards to what we do
8:38
or how we spend our time knowing that things could change at any moment yeah I
8:45
I just want to kind of expand on that just a little bit of like one of the things that we when we first met that we
8:51
worked on together was um and to also let everybody know that like Aaron is a person that that she not only like talks
8:59
about it she actually uses in practice was that it was uh trying you were on a
9:05
mission to solve an issue with your with your child of getting him to move and do this and know as a mom you didn't want
9:10
to lose that connection with her so you went down to exploration of how would I create a world where moms could do this
9:19
with their kids and build a bond so um I think I think that that is a a really
9:25
you know awesome thing that you you continue to and I just you know I know writing is a
9:31
huge passion for you and you have taken the what's
9:39
interesting is I'm trying to figure out how to button this like right together like the idea of how to solve a problem
9:44
for moms with kids through your process and then your process of writing now you
9:50
you've helped people figure out how to publish the stuff so do you feel like
9:55
you're more of a problem solver or a create like how what how many hats do
10:02
you exactly use and uh what is your magic secret to spinning those plates and all that stuff like that and still
10:09
maintaining uh like this Smiley happy family that I see that you and uh all
10:15
the time yeah you know I think uh I I always
10:20
felt like I was this conduit for bigger purpose and it sounds a little woo woo and a little cheesy but I always felt
10:26
like there are things that happen to me and many difficult things have happened
10:32
to me and so I'm like okay well why do they keep happening and why do I keep having this resilience to move forward
10:39
why was that gift and that set of packages you know given to me and so you're right I use my daughter is a
10:45
conduit for inspiration for moms and movement and learning all at the same
10:51
time so you and I were working on a project of how do you teach ABC and one through three one two three through
10:59
movement and physical development and childhood Milestones because I felt like that that was something I was very
11:05
comfortable in talking about and right we did the invention you helped me with
11:10
my invention and helped me do a video and and I pursued that path and then
11:16
ironically you know timing of covid hit and my daughter was in an age where she
11:22
was then struggling with reading and writing and she again was my purpose uh
11:28
for pursuing self-publishing and doing workbooks and figuring out you know I
11:34
felt like what they were sending home for her was very Bland and uninteresting and not motivating and so I just used
11:41
some seeds planted in the previous project um to talk about like happy
11:47
thoughts and calm thoughts and inspirational words to teach kiddos how to read and write in a different way and
11:54
that's how I learned how to self-publish was workbooks and activity books for her that I was like I don't know let's see
12:01
let's put them up on Amazon and see if anybody else is interested in them and they serve somebody else what did you
12:06
learn from that process was were you alone I learned I was not alone but I
12:13
definitely learned for myself I love inventing more than I love marketing and
12:19
selling sales sales is not my Str suit if I could just create and share and
12:26
distribute that would be my happy place um so I definitely learned that I'm a
12:32
Problem Solver and a creative um I am not a master marketer
12:37
or business person gotcha hey you know that that but the cool part is there other people out there that love to team
12:44
up with people like you um and it you know I know we you have a new book that
12:50
you're working on uh right now and uh to throw you on the spot because you showed me you had a copy of it um I you know
12:56
wanted to talk about that whole thing right and you and what you did uh if I'm not M if I'm if I'm right on this this
13:03
was a was it a challenge that you put out for yourself to do this crazy podcast run that you went on um because
13:11
I remember when I got the email from you for it I was like I immediately goes like I was like what the hell is she
13:17
thinking like it it it sounds exhausting like you're gonna do it and did you nap for like a week afterwards like so if
13:23
you could maybe give me um and the listeners like an idea of what the goal was of that and then kind of talk us
13:30
through a little bit of like what that process was and what you learned about it yeah so I um in the course of
13:37
learning how to self-publish um unfortunately then my mom got sick uh she had a severe stroke and needed
13:45
full-time care and it became then one of the next things that was asked of me um
13:52
was to basically be the person that could speak and write for my mom she was completely unable to walk or talk and
13:59
she didn't even know who I was um and so I ended up taking materials from my
14:05
daughter's workbooks and actually transferring those with her physical therapists and occupational therapists
14:12
into workbooks for stroke patients um there was so much complimentary content
14:19
and delivery that they were like we could just repurpose these for this new audience which you've already done the
14:25
work it's all about habits and repetition and basics structure and support um and so I used that process um
14:35
to reinforce my feeling of not living with any regrets of Parenthood and being
14:41
a child and so I sort of got to go back and uh spend a lot of time with my mom
14:48
and had no regrets when she passed as to how being at 40 at the time 44 years old
14:56
no parents um and saying like okay well now what like how is this how is this
15:02
happening at my age and my mom always told me just like pursue what I want and
15:10
I had told her previously I had a dream of a podcast and so on March 17th St
15:17
Patrick's Day which was her very favorite holiday I literally like had a
15:23
quick script written and I had a friend that helped me with an intro and I was like today's the today and I went up to
15:30
like my desk in the middle of my house and the kids were at school and I pushed record and I was like I don't know let's
15:36
put up on Spotify and let's just like see what happens because if I feel called to it let's just find out um and
15:44
so I just tried it and I learned how to podcast on my own and see what happens that's awesome and then you did and then
15:50
you did a a massive like run of like let's let's interview a thousand people
15:55
in in five days I do not recommend that to any
16:01
other podcaster when I've told people what I did they were like holy cow yeah
16:07
how many did you do again like it was it was I did almost 15 I think I did 15
16:13
yeah it was the week of my birthday I did 15 um some variation of like three to
16:19
four right every day and I really had no idea that it was
16:26
sort of like taking a vacation but really what it was like mentally and physically I should have just taken a
16:32
vacation done them um so that was that was a tough lesson I don't recommend for
16:38
others however if I'm doing my Silver Linings um it was an amazing way to
16:44
celebrate my birthday because it gave me a reason to reconnect with people in my life that were some of my favorite
16:50
friends and authors and because I had this podcast I could talk to people about a specific set of topics and it
16:59
also was my birthday so it was really in some way selfishly a win-win it was just
17:04
a lot of work to make up for it after the episodes were recorded yeah I I remember going like man I I bet she's
17:10
got to be Z because we record like you know today I think we're recording five
17:15
and it was like it's that's a lot I mean but it's only one day right you did it for a
17:21
week and you you do and I think people don't understand uh when you are leading
17:28
with your heart um what amount of like energy goes into
17:35
that and how it it feels like you run a marathon uh after you're done with it and uh so kudos to you for pulling it
17:43
off and I and I know it turned out great I mean I I listened to episodes it turned out awesome I I I just love the
17:49
fact that all the stuff that you are talking about it all stemmed
17:55
from a challenge in your life and I guess one question that kind of
18:01
comes to my mind is now that your your your child is getting older right and
18:07
they're ultimately sadly they need us less right and you start to evolve and
18:13
and change as you are what part of those lessons have been helpful to everybody
18:18
else have you started to kind of turn that mirror back on yourself to see what
18:24
you can do for you now like has that happened yet or is that a new is that on Horizon like where do where do you see
18:30
yourself right now oh it's actually your question is so on time um you know I
18:36
realized that over the past you know couple of decades I was someone who was an extreme extrovert and I loved every
18:44
bit of that um but it really gave me um a lot of people to know but as as time
18:52
gets smaller when now I have you know a family and I have two step kiddos and they're teenagers um you know time is
18:59
more limited and so I really decided for myself that in this next year um my goal
19:05
is to sort of scale back is to really um you know create more depth to the
19:10
relationships that I do have in my life and you know really focus in on making
19:17
sure I remember the small things for them right birthdays important Milestones uh things that I feel like
19:23
I've started to lose track of um because I'm trying to do so much
19:29
um and so writing this book for me at the end of this year um in honor of my
19:35
mom was like that little gift to myself to say like wait a second right you've you've done a lot of things for other
19:41
people especially over this past year in regards to publishing what do you want for you and
19:47
what do you want to carry over into the new year um so writing this book at the very end absolutely was a personal
19:54
Challenge and um it was something that I wanted to position myself that in
20:01
2024 um I can focus on some of my own content and writing again awesome can you tell us a little bit about the book
20:07
without giving all the the details we'll have a a link for people to buy it in the the show notes and everything but
20:13
like would be a little teaser for us so so spilled confetti uh is the title
20:20
of the book and in my mind it's going to be a series of topics it's sort of like
20:25
a little bit of Chicken Soup for the Soul right there's common theme but there's a wide variety of um little
20:32
subtitles that happen uh and Spilled confetti is important in my life because
20:38
my mom was always about confetti when we were little all the way through
20:44
adulthood um every birthday card every every any card um always had confetti in
20:50
it and we always knew it and yet we still opened it and screamed at her every time we did and the smile on her
20:58
face or when we called her and told her that we did it it just made her so happy
21:03
every time um so when she passed I actually kept her confetti collection
21:08
that I have now and to me confetti is like one of those Silver Linings right
21:14
you love it you hate it it's special and annoying all at the same time and so it
21:20
felt like a perfect theme um for a series of books about life events that
21:26
you you choose to do like publishing um which I currently know a lot about and
21:32
so you choose to publish it's hard it's difficult but the joy of pressing publish and talking to someone about how
21:40
your book has impacted them right makes you want to do it again right and so
21:46
that's how spilled confetti as the title came about and I'm really excited to see
21:52
how this particular topic of writing about life lessons in self-publishing to
21:59
get started but in the future thinking about other things that happen in everyday lives that have both good sides
22:06
and difficult sides but we're all going to experience them together that's cool I I love that title I think it it's just
22:13
so cool like your mom would have been like a a hero for the uh what is it the glitter bomb Community like she's she
22:20
would have been like that at the internet age she probably would have invented those things
22:25
right yes she'd be all over it it was it
22:31
will be something that even um we sort of teased at her funeral service we
22:37
actually threw confetti um because we were like Mom we're gonna get this one more time like we're going to do this
22:43
for you and the entire group uh through confetti and and the staff at the funeral home were like we've never seen
22:49
a service like this before that's awesome that's great well I mean what a great way to to member somebody that had
22:55
such an impact on you is to to celebrate I think a lot of times what people do is
23:01
is we get stuck in that person being gone or these things changing and you
23:08
kind of don't figure out a way to to make it live on or like or you know survive the whole thing and you find
23:15
those little moments that are spilled confetti right like that that are able to kind of look at the bright side of
23:21
something and see the joy that this person brought to your life and and button that up can you tell me a little
23:26
bit about like the fear of of what somebody would go through in publishing especially like when you're pushing something like this personal out um what
23:34
you kind of tackled there because let's say the reason why I'm asking that is like um let's say I'm somebody out there
23:40
that is like you said they want they have a book in them but they will get it written they know they're ready to
23:46
publish it it's super easy to publish stuff now um I mean I've had million
23:52
people I'm like Amazon KDP and like just go search it like you know what can you
23:58
if anything can you talk about the the fear that goes into that and then what comes out on the other side once you
24:04
actually hit that publish button it is more mindset than
24:10
anything it is the accept it's accepting that it will be imperfect and
24:18
it will be imperfect whether you have a traditional publisher or you do it
24:23
yourself just because you felt called to put content and put your art out there
24:30
in word form um doesn't mean that you're going to get it right the first time and
24:36
doesn't mean as you know you're going to get it right maybe the 10th or 12th um
24:41
but but claiming that your idea was worth putting on paper and Publishing
24:48
and sharing with others you have no clue what your potential impact is until you
24:53
actually press publish and then you tell people that you did it um there is a 100% guarantee every
25:01
author that I've ever worked with or met has said that their publishing experience brought them lessons and more
25:09
joy after they press publish than they even thought was available and you know
25:16
sometimes their impact what they feel like can be small and that's enough for them right they're not aspiring to be a
25:23
best-selling author but they can share with their kid that this book that they wrote is now available for sale and they
25:30
pursued it and they didn't stop themselves for a lot of family members who I work with that's enough so it even
25:38
sell you know a couple dozen copies feels like icing on the cake right like
25:43
they are just so proud to be able to tell their family members they did it um and then there's other people who you
25:50
know do want to have a greater impact or they have coaching material that you know they've sent out on a free email
25:57
list but never expanded their reach um and so I always tell people let don't
26:03
let your fear of publishing hold you back because you can always edit and
26:09
republish that's possible and you never know who it could whose life you could
26:15
make better by publishing um until you actually do it yeah I love that you
26:20
brought up the whole imperfect thing I think that if anybody pursues anything
26:26
creative and they think going to love what they did they are so foolish like
26:31
it's I think I think it's the thing that a lot of people that they I mean I I don't know I truthfully I don't know
26:37
anything other than being creative right like so when I look at somebody that does like accounting stuff I'm like I
26:43
don't know how you do that right but people that for some reason I think on the flip side of things people think
26:48
like well I can write this easy kids book and then they go to write it and then they go like well wait I don't like
26:55
it it's not right it's like welcome to my world that's what I always think it's like you know I have 20 I have 23 kids
27:01
books out and you know and my first adult book I actually got the the physical copy proof last night and go
27:10
you're like I'm looking at and I go and I and I told my wife I said this is the first one I'm really proud of and it's
27:18
like and I think that's a lot of times and I think it addresses not just I know we're talking publishing but in life in
27:24
general I think that what you're doing is you're giving people another creative
27:30
tool to figure out who they are and I would love to know if that is something
27:36
that you baked into what you're doing from personal experience or if it's just
27:41
maybe it's something you haven't thought about or or whatever I would just love to kind of hear because when I hear it
27:47
through my filter I feel like oh you're giving somebody a tool to find themselves like what do you think about
27:53
that yeah you know I again to me always personalize The Experience so I have
28:00
senior citizens that I've worked with that they're like I'm too old to do this right and I'm like well let's just try
28:06
right and they do the first one and I have one um senior who I'm now in the path of publishing her eighth book
28:13
because her first one she didn't think was possible for herself and now she's like oh well I see and I'm learning and
28:19
I'm enjoying this and I'm challenging my brain in a different way um I also again
28:25
just to keep circling back to my my personal life um you know my aunt who
28:30
was actually the one that discovered uh or tipped us to my mom having a stroke
28:36
she wanted to publish a children's book and she's like I have no text skills I have no illustration skills I just have
28:41
this story that I wrote a really long time ago um and I was like just give it to me just let me do it because for me
28:48
it felt like this full circle moment of gratitude to say right you did you did
28:54
what you could for our family let me help you see what dream is possible for
29:00
you um and so I took her book and she kept finding little things that maybe
29:05
could be wrong with it or changes to illustrations and and I said listen I
29:11
want you to press publish I want to do this because you won't even know how
29:17
good this could be until after you physically see the book in your hand and
29:22
you're like I did that and I know that that feeling for people people opens new
29:28
doors um and I feel like I'm there as more of a coach in publishing to keep
29:34
you from hold not holding yourself back yeah I think I think that's really what is at the end of what as I'm listening
29:42
to you describe it it's it's pretty amazing that you've you've taken what you you like about the human
29:50
development aspect being a mom problem solving the struggles you've been
29:56
through and then your love for publishing and figured out a way to turn that into cuz I was going to say it
30:01
sounds more like almost like a therapy or coaching type of thing uh which is
30:08
awesome because I think what you're actually doing is a lot of uh helping people find themselves and and Discovery
30:15
and self-discovery and it's got to be really fulfilling for you as well to
30:22
it's almost like you're building these proud mom moments it's the that you can
30:27
like look like it's your book but like also like I feel like I'm so proud of
30:32
this person now and I think that's really cool so good job on there yeah thanks you know it's true I when I came
30:39
up with um the company I even put my daughter on the page and I said she's my editor because to me when I really
30:46
started pursuing more picture books for people because that seemed to be what people wanted the most support with I
30:52
was like if my daughter can't read it right that's that's something piece of feedack back to give you or if she gets
30:58
super excited that's a piece of feedback to give you um and so yeah so she was my
31:04
partner at the beginning of this um which to me was exciting because I had
31:09
started even learning about publishing to help her read and write better and then now she's seeing how that progress
31:17
um she can be part of the next generation of the idea and you know I had uh one of my very first authors I
31:24
worked with was a dad who had been holding on to story and sketches for over 17 years wow and he was willing to
31:33
just say I think Now's the Time and we helped him publish his first book and
31:38
over the course of a year he's evolved and developed more characters and gone out to book signing events and readings
31:46
in schools and he's like I have this whole other side of me that just I held
31:52
back on right for 17 years and I'm like let's do this yeah let's see what's
31:57
possible now that's amazing so you know I I love that leadway because it kind of
32:03
totally leads right into the the question I wanted to ask to kind of close all this off here be respectful of
32:08
your time I just before we dive dive into that I want everybody to know that in the show notes there's going to be all of Erin's links in there links to
32:14
get her book maybe you are somebody that wants to publish a book there's I'm gonna have all the stuff in there for
32:20
you to be able to reach out to Erin um and but my question is is like if you can kind of go back now and tell when
32:26
you start started this whole thing when you started your first thing or maybe the Aon that I met when you were first
32:32
inventing ideas um what maybe would
32:38
you tell that person or what would you then if you reversed it the innovator
32:43
that was doing it tell where you're at right now in this next evolution of yourself so either you take whatever
32:51
Direction you want if you can go back and tell that one or if you can bring what you learned from there I would just love to hear what reflections you have
32:57
learned because I think what it the reason why I asked that is I think so many people go out there and do that and they they take the brave stuff of P
33:04
pressing publish and it doesn't work out the way that they want and they think
33:09
that they failed or they think whatever I mean it's it's basically us telling ourselves a story that's not
33:15
true and you know we just you know keep building that snowman right like we keep telling ourselves like what would what
33:20
would be those things that you can kind of if you can maybe leave us with like one or two nuggets for those people that are trying to evolve
33:27
or to reach for growth or change that you really have found to be the key in
33:33
this process for you the first thing that came to mind to
33:38
me when you asked that question was to trust alignment um I feel like in many ways
33:45
the characters and the ideas that you helped me with will turn into something
33:51
someday I they always come back up they never leave space in my my head but over
33:59
time I've tried to force the ideas into what you and I started and pursue them
34:05
in ways that never felt aligned um then the opposing
34:12
feeling when I'm not forcing a project and all these other projects that have
34:17
just happened and people are like is it luck does it just fall in your lap are you just that cool that like these
34:23
things happen and I'm like I think they're just a lot I think they're supposed to be um put in
34:31
front of me and then I choose to pick them up because they feel like they're the right time and so I would say to
34:37
people you know to force a process I'm not saying don't push yourself right
34:44
don't CH I want you to challenge yourself but where there's other things or other projects or other ideas that
34:51
naturally fall into place just trust that process um because that that's
34:57
where I feel like the real magic is and that's where things will be easier
35:02
instead of harder um and that's really where it's easier to process and you're
35:08
quicker to say yes to and you can find the silver linings um there's a lot of push for
35:15
people to you know find passive income through publishing or you know like
35:20
create these income sources and I say sometimes that if
35:25
that's if that's what R you I'm not here to judge it but also there could be a
35:31
bigger reason that you just have to settle into as to why you want to publish certain content and just trust
35:38
that part that's awesome I love that that's a great answer for that and you know guys
35:44
just like hear what she's saying there she's telling you that a lot of what
35:49
you're going to do is going to be weird and awkward and it's not going to be right the first time but through process
35:55
and habits and and just just keep you know I I talk about it being like facing
36:01
your fears and your things are in fears it's the same thing as pressing publish it's it's facing all those things and
36:06
being brave and taking those ex those steps for yourself so Aaron I just want
36:11
to like celebrate you here and just like tell you uh one I appreciate you taking the time out to talk with us and you
36:19
know again just congratulations on how far that you've come I I I know when we
36:26
met you were you were kind of at a spot where
36:31
you were trying to figure out a lot of stuff and you wanted to hit it from all the Angles and we went through the
36:37
process of it and I I I have to tell you something that you probably don't reflect on a lot of it was I
36:44
remember when you were like I think I need to stop pursuing this and I need to pull back from it and I just want you to
36:50
know that like to me that was always inspiring because it was like you were so sure what you need to do but you were
36:56
wise enough to to know when you should stop and figure out what you want to do so I think that's one tool that a lot of
37:02
people don't spend a lot of time focusing on and um that's a that's a
37:07
superpower and I just want to like really like tell you that like that's that's a really amazing thing that you
37:14
have and I'm I'm proud for you of how far you've come along this thing and I
37:20
and I'm really uh thank you can't wait to see all the books and people you help and all this stuff like that I feel like
37:27
you're just getting started 2024 is going to be like a this amazing year for you and uh and I wanted just to end end
37:36
it with just like you know telling people out there that are listening like you know what we're talking about here
37:41
is just evolving and finding yourself uh sharing your stories and um finding that
37:47
people will find Hope in your journey that they'll find spilled confetti along
37:53
the way that you can pick up and throw on somebody else's path that they'll enjoy it's it's pure joy in figuring out
38:00
like who you are and along the way um you uncover so much stuff and that's
38:07
what life's about and uh you know Aaron here is uh obviously had to deal with a
38:12
lot of stuff at a young age and is turning all of that stuff into amazing things for other people so you need to
38:18
find people like this and and listen to what they're saying because these people are put on our path to help us and uh
38:27
and they're doing it not to uh take advantage of but because they feel that this part of who they are and it really
38:33
truly is so um if you guys got anything out of this make sure you share it tell
38:39
everybody about Aaron you want to print a book talk to Aaron you want help you need to find somebody that's gonna kick
38:45
you in the butt and tell you to don't hold onto your drawings for 18
38:50
years she's the one I'm I'm your girl that's right so thank you so much Erin
38:56
uh as always guys just want to tell you it's really hard to be a human you guys are doing a great job just keep going
39:02
it's about just moving being kind to yourself and understanding that you are completely normal even when it feels
39:08
like you're not uh thank you so much Aaron and uh I'll make sure that everything is linked to you and all the
39:14
show notes and stuff so thank you thank you friend it has been a pleasure and thank you for continuing to sprinkle
39:22
hope and spill confetti everywhere you go absolutely thank you I see
39:30
[Music]
39:40
you fox land media think big