How The Mentor’s Mentor Finally Wrote His First Book And Found His Voice In The Process
“Holy shit. What was I thinking? That's not even my voice. That sounds awful. I remember us having a conversation where I said I hate this to the point that I’m not going to publish this book.”
Meet Andy Hall, coach, mentor and facilitator. Known as The Mentor’s Mentor, Andy has successfully trained 200 mentors across his career, won multiple awards for his mentoring approach and is a TedX speaker. Andy wanted to scale his coaching business, codify years of mentoring insights, give back to his community and step fully into his role as an authority on mentorship. To do this, he planned on writing and self-publishing his first book Purposeful Mentoring.
Yet, as the opening quote makes clear, Andy struggled with a belief in his own writing ability. He questioned whether he could finish writing a book, let alone get it published and be taken seriously as an author.
This is the story of how Andy learned to let go of limiting beliefs and become a high-output, confident author able to produce up to 10,000 words per week in his authentic voice and write a book he was proud of.
The Challenges
Andy came to Jamie Ryder, founder Spotlight Training Co, for help with book coaching and ghost writing. He did so based on a relationship built on mutual trust and inspiration from Jamie’s own journey as a published author.
He needed accountability to finish Purposeful Mentoring, as he was finding it hard to prioritise writing the book within his busy schedule. He was also stuck in a loop of constant editing and never feeling satisfied with the book, which slowed him down and caused his productivity to suffer.
Plus, Andy was unsure of his tone of voice and felt as if the book was written for multiple audiences. Andy felt as if he had nothing original to say and that he was either copying what other writers in his space were doing and that his writing style sounded overly polished and inauthentic.
The Turning Points
To address these challenges, Andy realised he had to change his approach to writing Purposeful Mentoring. Jamie set out a process of regular accountability calls and exercises for him to follow. This process involved Andy learning to:
Separate writing from editing.
Prioritise flow over perfection.
Write from his own lived experience instead of following popular industry trends.
Here are three situations where Andy noticed these turning points starting to have an impact in his own words:
On prioritising flow:
“What stood out to me was how effective our early warm-up exercises were. Exercises like writing a haiku helped to create a clean break from overthinking and got me into a more creative state. I stopped worrying about whether my work was good and just started expressing what I wanted to say.”
On accepting the differences between writing and editing:
“My ability to edit has improved a lot, but more importantly, I now see it as a separate part of the process. Before I was trying to write and edit at the same time, which just slowed everything down. Now I respect that editing is its own phase and that it often takes multiple passes.
I still don’t enjoy editing, especially my own work, because I can be quite critical. But now I’m critical of the process, not myself. That’s made a huge difference.”
On changing his writing style:
“I noticed my style of writing changed dramatically. The book initially read like I was just trying to push a book out and tick a box. I don’t think it spoke to anyone in the early stages. It was a collection of ideas put together. But then I learned to position myself as an author and authority on the subject of mentoring.”
“I distinctly remember writing those later chapters. I was fully engaged in the process. It felt like I was genuinely expressing myself. Earlier on, it was more mechanical. I would write 500 words on a topic and come back to it later. Not necessarily a bad approach, but the evolution in my writing became obvious when I read the manuscript back several times after the editing phase.”
Impact Metrics
Over a year of working together on Purposeful Mentoring, Andy reported these behavioural changes:
A sporadic writing schedule that was inconsistent and undefined turned into being able to write up to 3000 words per day and up to 10,000 words per week.
An ability to enter a state of writing flow in under 1 minute with extended writing sprints of 90 - 120 minutes, without feeling the need to self-edit immediately.
A shift in mindset and identity from being an uncertain writer to a confident author eager to create multiple books.
A desire to understand and research multiple aspects of self-publishing.
“I’ve started this journey in my mid-fifties so that’s an old dog learning new tricks.”
Additional Outcomes
Andy has turned Purposeful Mentoring into a polished and complete manuscript through a combination of strategic coaching and ghostwritten sections from Jamie. He’s in the process of getting the book professionally published with a self-publishing CIC that will help to print physical and e-book copies through crowdfunding.
The ripple effects of working with Jamie have gone beyond just one manuscript. Andy has re-engaged with writing as a therapeutic practice in the case of journaling and feels more confident in producing high-quality content across social media and in blogs.
Start your book writing and self-publishing journey with Spotlight Training Co
Writing a book is a fantastic way to create a brand asset for your training business, share your methodology, generate new speaking opportunities, help more learners and secure your legacy.
Maybe you’ve always had a book in you but you don’t know where to start or you need some extra accountability to finish the one you’ve already started like Andy.
Spotlight Training Co is here to help you write and publish the book you’ve always wanted through coaching, ghostwriting and self-publishing consultancy.
Contact jamie@spotlighttraining.com to discuss your project or book a free ideas call below.