Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 93 - How to Turn Books Into Your Kids’ Retirement Plan
Synopsis:
In this inspiring episode of the Peaceful Profits Podcast, we sit down with Maria Secoy—a trauma-informed coach who turned her own healing journey into a mission to serve others. Maria shares her powerful story of moving from confusion and emotional overwhelm to creating a business that truly aligns with her life’s purpose.
Before joining Peaceful Profits, Maria had already started working with clients but lacked clarity in her messaging, pricing, and systems. She reveals how the Peaceful Profits team helped her define a clear transformation path for her clients, structure her offer into a repeatable program, and finally feel confident charging for the deep, life-changing work she facilitates.
You’ll hear about the mindset shifts Maria made to begin treating her business like a real business—not just heart work—and how that shift allowed her to create income while helping people heal. She opens up about the challenges of navigating a purpose-driven business and why it's essential to seek support, especially when you’re dealing with emotionally heavy subject matter.
Whether you’re a coach, healer, or someone looking to build a business around meaningful work, Maria’s story will inspire you to own your worth, clarify your message, and make a greater impact—without burnout.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: How to Turn Books Into Your Kid's Retirement Plan
[00:00:00] Chanelle: Hello, Peaceful Profits nation. Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. So today we are talking to our client, Maria Secoy. Maria, welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:11] Maria: Hi, thank you.
[00:00:12] Chanelle: Yeah, excited to have you here. If y'all are watching on YouTube, you can see her beautiful background, which speaks volumes about what she does and her work, and we're going to get into that.
[00:00:24] Chanelle: But I love how much is said already by just the visual here. So I'm going [00:00:30] to read Maria's bio. She says, I'm an indie romance author who loves helping other romance writers launch their indie author career. My philosophy is unique in that I define success as equal parts, joy and financial success.
[00:00:44] Chanelle: Instead of helping authors achieve fast wins, I help them achieve wins that build success. Slow, but last for decades. Consider how often the promise of a quick win fails, leaving us burnt out, disheartened, and ready to quit. Instead, I promise my writers. They won't fail. [00:01:00] They'll maintain their passion for writing, never burn out and keep their author career moving forward.
[00:01:05] Chanelle: Success is inevitable. Progress is measurable and joy is constant. Okay. I love that bio. I love your philosophy. I read that and I'm like, Ooh, sign me up. That is what I want. So that's what you hope people are going to feel when they read that. And I think that is definitely achieved. And I also love it because I think so many people can relate to what you said in there.
[00:01:29] Chanelle: People [00:01:30] try to do too much too fast. And we see this all the time. All the time. We see it in lose 30 pounds in 30 days, do this overnight, achieve everything you wanted in one day, become a millionaire, it's just this thing in our culture. And so how do you then get people excited about something that is a slow burn, like you've said.
[00:01:53] Maria: So there are a couple approaches that I take to it. The first one is that I really approach [00:02:00] this as a support for a hobby, if that makes sense. So I very specifically look to work with people who already love writing. That's already their habit. They're already passionate about that hobby.
[00:02:14] Maria: They enjoy doing it, and so they, they don't want to. get done with the writing so that they can move on to other things. They really do enjoy and embrace the journey. And so that's the other piece. Not only do we approach this [00:02:30] from that hobby perspective, but we do so with a heavy focus on our love of the journey, our love of the process, our fulfillment that we get from writing the books.
[00:02:42] Maria: And then the profit side of it, the business side of it, we really showcase as the icing on the cake. That's the decoration that makes everything else even better. Because while you won't get a whole lot of that, that fancy, wonderful income in the [00:03:00] first couple of years, if you stick with it for five plus years, then not only do you have recurring passive income, but you have recurring passive income that doesn't ever go away.
[00:03:13] Maria: Be right last 70 years beyond your death. So it becomes part of your legacy, part of what you can leave for future generations. And if you're having fun doing what you love along the way, and that just becomes an accidental byproduct, isn't that a happy [00:03:30] way to, to stumble into success?
[00:03:33] Chanelle: Yeah, I mean of a hundred percent.
[00:03:35] Chanelle: Yes. So the question that comes up for me then is what it's because you are Reaching out to people for whom this is a hobby, right? It's a hobby for them That can sometimes be tricky to get someone if it's a hobby to pay high ticket And so I want to talk a little bit about that how do you? [00:04:00] tap into something that's a hobby and get people to pull out their credit cards and to feel like, okay, this is a hobby, but it's important enough to me that I want to pay to, to have what you're offering here.
[00:04:13] Maria: So the key there is recognizing first that we all pay for our hobbies. None of our hobbies are free. Whether I used to joke that I love to run as exercise because I'm lazy and running doesn't require anything but putting on shoes and getting out the door. But it means I [00:04:30] have to replace those running shoes every three months or so.
[00:04:33] Maria: And it means I wear good running shoes, so that's 120 every three months. every hobby comes with a price tag. We all invest in our hobbies. So we start with that, and then we very intentionally designed the Writer to Author Program to recognize we actually started with data from, it's actually from Readsy, but they looked at data and they [00:05:00] collected a whole bunch over a whole bunch of years and they found self published authors on average spend 3, 000 to 5, 000 on every book they release.
[00:05:10] Maria: No matter how successful it is or is not, that's my ticket price tag right there. So we looked at that and went okay there's our price point. How can we provide a completely different experience that is a million times more valuable? But stay within that same price tag [00:05:30] so that when our clients are looking at their choices and they're asking themselves, Do I want to do this myself?
[00:05:37] Maria: And they're pulling up the research and all the research is saying doing it yourself is going to cost you 3 to 5, 000 or do I want to do this with a team of mentors holding my hands and helping me out along the way? Solving my problems before they even come up and learning a really strong process that I'll benefit from for decades to come.
[00:05:59] Maria: Then it [00:06:00] becomes, for the exact same price, then it becomes a kind of a no brainer decision. Yeah, let's invest in learning, let's invest in working with a mentor, let's invest in what's going to serve me forever. Because while I'm not going to save any money right now, I'm not going to spend any more than I would have otherwise, first of all.
[00:06:20] Maria: And second of all, I will save money in year two and year three and year ten. And then suddenly we look at that and we go, I'd be [00:06:30] dumb not to invest in this now. So we set up the program to include, the important bits and pieces that authors end up paying for. We build those into the program and then we put them in the context of an education focused piece that is designed to empower authors.
[00:06:51] Maria: So I always tell them my definition of success is some, when somebody graduates from the writer to author program and goes, bye, I don't need you anymore. [00:07:00] I've gotten everything I need. I'm ready to embrace my career and take charge for the next. Two or three years at the very least, but we do have an Ascension offer, but it's not necessary.
[00:07:12] Maria: It's another tool. It's another kind of support, because if I've done my job well, six months in the program. And they're ready to take off with their career and just go live their life and enjoy what they do.
[00:07:25] Chanelle: Oh, okay. That is genius. I love how you [00:07:30] outlined that for us and showed us what you do. And hearing that, I love how you have made it a no brainer.
[00:07:36] Chanelle: For your clients, right? It's if you can do that for people, if you can say, you're going to spend this money anyway, and here's why it makes more sense to spend with me, it's just, okay why wouldn't I like that? Just makes so much sense. Logically, not to mention the emotional components that I heard throughout there.
[00:07:58] Chanelle: Of this [00:08:00] writer's got to write, right? They just feel this. They want to, they want it so bad. And they want people to read and they want to publish and they want those things. So you've got this whole emotional part. And then you just add a reason on top of that, of why it makes sense to spend money and boom, here's why your business is thriving.
[00:08:16] Chanelle: So I would love to have you back up the boat for us a little bit here and tell us how you got here. This isn't what you've always done. Tell us what got you into this online space and kind of your story. What brought you here?
[00:08:29] Maria: [00:08:30] So I will start by saying that I'm a former teacher. That's probably true for a very high percentage of people in the coaching industry.
[00:08:41] Maria: In so many ways, educators are the perfect fit for this because we have a background in how do people How people learn things and how to help them do that efficiently that said, mine is a little different in that I had never, I have no business background at all whatsoever. Zero. I [00:09:00] also had never heard of.
[00:09:03] Maria: online coaching, any kind of online program like this. I didn't know they existed as of February 2022. That's when I discovered it. I also live up in the Appalachian Mountains, and I'm rural enough that I did not have high speed internet until 2020. I have been doing the piece where I record writing lessons, and I support writers, [00:09:30] For, since 2005, but I can remember in 2015, 2016, I would give people thumb drives with recorded video lessons on them.
[00:09:40] Maria: And so I actually had put together a video course to support writers but I handed it out on thumb drives because we didn't have high speed internet. Nobody could stream anything. So in that way, it's a little different. I stumbled into this. accidentally. And I, it's one [00:10:00] of those things where you look around and you go, this has to be meant to be this had to be, my intended next step.
[00:10:06] Maria: In January of 2022, I went to my family and I went to the Dominican Republic. My uncle was getting married their destination wedding. It was gorgeous. So it's January. We are seeing pictures from back home where it's snowing in the Appalachian Mountains and it's miserable. We are sitting on this gorgeous tropical beach and I was Crying, like [00:10:30] sobbing and my husband was like, most people don't cry at the beach, like normally people come here and they're happy and I told him, I was like, I just, we only have two days left and I'm going to have to go back and I'm going to have to go back into my classroom and he, my husband is incredibly supportive, he listened, he, he was very supportive but at the end of the day I looked at him and I fully expected him to be like, you can't do that.
[00:10:54] Maria: But I looked at him and I said, I think I need to change jobs and not just like change jobs. I think I need to change [00:11:00] professions. I think I'm done teaching in the, in a public school classroom. And I'll never forget. He looked at me and he said, I was wondering how long it'd take you to figure that out.
[00:11:09] Maria: And I was like, Oh, okay. At least we're all on the same page because sometimes it's. easier for people to spot things like that when they're outside of us. Sometimes it's easier for those who care about us to see that. And so he was very supportive of that. I then, we got back home and I started looking at jobs, realized that I could be a manager at [00:11:30] Kroger and make as much as I was making as a teacher and was like, oh, so the world is my oyster and I can do anything without taking a pay cut, which made transitioning very easy from a financial perspective.
[00:11:43] Maria: There was very little financial risk, which was good. And then I stumbled into a Facebook ad. It was one of those business gurus who was like, make 10, 000 this month. And I was like, at this point, I'll try anything. And it was a [00:12:00] free Challenge a free one of their free things. So I signed up for it.
[00:12:04] Maria: I hated it. I was immediately like this is very used car salesman like this feels skeezy to me, but it was the first time I had ever heard of doing something like this online. I was like, I could take these writing lessons that I've been doing with thumb drives. I could do that online and so then I went from there and that very quickly grew [00:12:30] into me supporting writers online.
[00:12:32] Maria: How I do that, my, my specific focus has shifted over time my messaging has gotten much clearer, but I've never struggled. I announced what I was doing and had three clients within two weeks. Because. Writers love to write and the idea of having somebody support them with that and help them take it to the next level, it's a very in demand niche.
[00:12:57] Maria: And my background makes it very [00:13:00] easy. It was very easy for me to show them I know what I'm doing and I've got the experience and the expertise to, to lead them and to guide the way.
[00:13:09] Chanelle: That's okay. I love hearing your story. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Shout out to your husband for being on board and for supporting it.
[00:13:17] Chanelle: We need that sometimes that's hard to jump in without that support. So that's amazing. You said that it came fairly, three clients right away, as soon as you open your doors for business and you had a lot of early [00:13:30] success. Not everyone has that, definitely, we see that and I would argue that even in your niche, even in the writing sphere, because one of the things you said is because writers, that's why it's because these writers want to write.
[00:13:42] Chanelle: And I think that's part of it. But I am also curious, why did what you were doing work? And what was it about either you and the way that you shared or your messaging and the way that you portrayed what you had? Why did that appeal to people?
[00:13:59] Maria: So I love [00:14:00] this question, because it's one, like now that I've been in this space for a couple years, and I see how so many other people approach it, I look back and in hindsight, I can see exactly why it worked for me and why it was so easy for me and it's because I have no business sense, and I know that sounds counterintuitive, but it means that I Never when I opened my doors, I didn't think of it as opening my doors when I started my business.
[00:14:28] Maria: I didn't think of it as starting a business. [00:14:30] I went. Oh, hey, I'm already helping writers in real life. I'd love to have a couple writers I could help online and earn a little extra money to take the pressure off so that, it makes it a little easier to consider leaving teaching. I wasn't planning to leave teaching at that point.
[00:14:46] Maria: I expected at least another year in the classroom. And so I never did the formal messaging and sales and I just started talking to writers and [00:15:00] sharing my experience and it usually started out as a free conversation. I just started showing up online and having conversations with people and when they realized, they would post hamstruggling with this and so I'd hop in and comment and I'd be like, Hey, here's three suggestions for how you can help with that.
[00:15:17] Maria: And they'd be like, Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Thank you so much. And so then we'd get into DM and we'd start chatting there. And I'd be like, if you want more support like that, I, I only have so much time, but if you'd like, if you're willing to compensate me for [00:15:30] my time, I love working with writers.
[00:15:32] Maria: I have a lot of fun with it. And so we started there. So there was no I had never heard of a funnel. I had, but I thought it was the thing that we use to make sure the oil goes in the right place and doesn't set the engine on fire. I also did not know what a sales pipeline was. I had no concept of any of that.
[00:15:51] Maria: So I really, and now it's really funny when I see new entrepreneurs get started and they're worried about doing things the right way and having [00:16:00] all of this stuff set up first. And I'm always like, or you could just talk to people and offer them help. And then once they see the value of your help, you could say, Hey, I'd love to help you more.
[00:16:10] Maria: Is that something you feel would be appropriate to compensate me for and go from there? And then it builds very quickly. Yeah. I think this connection is amazing that you have said it's because I didn't know business because I'm thinking about a lot of what we're taught is [00:16:30] exactly what you just said, right?
[00:16:30] Chanelle: Okay. Go into the Facebook groups and have these conversations and then move it to DM. And then you build it around to, can I help you? And what about you pay me? And here's this thing, but something about. I guess it's motivation. I guess it's the motive. Ultimately you wanted to help people. And I think sometimes we get so caught up in the, what's the next step?
[00:16:53] Chanelle: What do I have to do? And it becomes to use your earlier word, skeezy, right? It's this manipulative [00:17:00] car salesman ask, like, how do I must do this, it's not about the other person and how you can help them. It's do this, and this to get. Someone rather than to, I want to help someone and naturally I'm going to do these things.
[00:17:15] Chanelle: So people listening to this podcast are generally in business, want to be better at business. They have a business mindset. How can they incorporate this teaching from you and be less businessy? How can [00:17:30] they do it when they know, you know what I'm saying? When they know this.
[00:17:33] Maria: So now that I know this I understand that challenge.
[00:17:36] Maria: And so I really think of it as two very different hats. And I have to explain how literal this analogy is. When I first started teaching, I worked with relatively young students and I worked with them on writing. And so they would, I would need to give one student my undivided attention for a minute or two.
[00:17:59] Maria: As I help them [00:18:00] with what I was helping with them with, and I needed the other students to give me the space to give that one my attention. And so the way I would signal that to them is I used to have two hats in my classroom. I had a red one and a green one. And I taught my students, I said, if I'm wearing the red hat, I need you to go get a friend to help you solve your problem.
[00:18:19] Maria: And or wait until I put the green hat on. And then so between consultations with writers, I would put on the green hat and help out whoever needed it. But when I was in a [00:18:30] consultation with a writer, I would put on my red hat so that nobody else could bother me. I do that. In a less literal sense, but I do that now.
[00:18:39] Maria: If I am looking on fulfillment, if whatever I am doing is related to fulfillment and taking care of my clients, I take off the business hat. I don't Consider what did this person pay me? What am I gonna earn from this? I will say there is a little bit of a downfall to it. There are times when [00:19:00] I realized belatedly.
[00:19:02] Maria: Oh, I just gave that client free access to what is normally a 300 course. Oops, but it was what they needed in the moment. And my first thought wasn't how can I make more money off this person? My first thought was what does this client need and how can I meet that need for them? And by doing that I've never regretted any of the times when I've gone, oops, I just gave this away.
[00:19:25] Maria: Because my clients are always incredibly appreciative of it. And it's [00:19:30] never, it never feels transactional because I'm not thinking transactionally. I am approaching it from a, right now I'm here to help this client win. What can I help them do? What can I offer them to move that needle and make their success happen?
[00:19:47] Maria: And then, Separately, I look down, I look at the business, I look at my balance sheet I look at my ROAS, I look at, all of those metrics that as business owners we have to be aware of if we want to keep a [00:20:00] profitable business. And I even go so far as to block my time so that I'm not switching back and forth between the two.
[00:20:09] Maria: So I have times that are fulfillment times. And I chuck my business hat out the window, and I have times that are business times. And that's when, I hate to say it, but the client fulfillment piece comes second to the numbers and the business side of things.
[00:20:27] Chanelle: Yeah. Oh, thank you. That is [00:20:30] even more than I hoped for with that answer.
[00:20:32] Chanelle: That's so powerful. And I feel like that is something we can really hold onto and keep in mind that red hat and green hat idea to get us in the right mindset of where we need to be. So that we are coming from a place of love and giving and service versus the business side of things. Now, obviously, you started off strong and this business started off strong.
[00:20:57] Chanelle: You were doing well, and yet you still [00:21:00] chose to get more help and you came here as a client with Peaceful Profit. So what brought you here and why did you feel like you needed more help in your business?
[00:21:09] Maria: So I first discovered Peaceful Profits three months after I opened my business. Like I, I wasn't even sure if I was going full time yet.
[00:21:20] Maria: And because of that, like I was not in a position to invest in this kind of support. But it was also right at that time when I was becoming aware of how much [00:21:30] support is out there. And so I was, In sponge mode, if you will, where I was just soaking everything in. I was learning what a funnel was. I was learning what a pipeline was.
[00:21:41] Maria: And as I was picking all of that up, I was also clicking on every Facebook ad and looking at every business guru to try and figure out what I liked and what I didn't like, what I agreed with, what I didn't agree with at the end of the day, our values inform every decision [00:22:00] we make. But that means that one of the first things we need to do anytime we take on a new project is define our values, figure out where we stand on different issues.
[00:22:11] Maria: For writers right now that a lot of that has to do with AI. For me starting a business, I needed to define my values and I was doing that by looking at other business people. And going, I don't like that. That feels icky to me. Oh, I [00:22:30] really like that. That feels really authentic to me. It aligns with my values and my personality.
[00:22:34] Maria: And so I started putting together this list of who am I as a business owner? What do I want my business to stand for? And that very quickly, especially coming from an education background where I got paid almost nothing to give people whatever they needed, whether it was within my scope of work or not.
[00:22:52] Maria: It was very, A high percentage of things that I looked at felt skeezy to me, felt too focused [00:23:00] on the money, too focused on the transaction and too focused on celebrating how rich the person providing the service could be. And Peaceful Profits never did that. I never, what I got from Peaceful Profits was always, information and useful information.
[00:23:28] Maria: And examples [00:23:30] of how that useful information led to success with success defined as a whole lot more than just how much money can I make. So that felt much better to me. At one point I actually did hop on a sales call in 2022 with Peaceful Profits. I couldn't afford it at the time but the fact that the person who I spoke with at the time was respectful of the fact that I couldn't afford it at the time and didn't immediately cut off the conversation [00:24:00] was huge to me.
[00:24:01] Maria: I was like, okay these are real human beings who aren't just after my money. So I kept an eye on Peaceful Profits. I loved the idea of the book funnel, especially as a writer who supports other writers, that to me was like an obvious the math behind it, coming from someone who has a very simple understanding of like the math of business the idea that I could earn what I was spending on ads.[00:24:30]
[00:24:30] Maria: was like duh, that, that seems, why would I not do that? And again, it helped. I never, I had no concept of how complicated that could be, which kind of worked to my benefit, because I was like of course this will work. Why would it not? So there was no disbelief. I just, of course it'll work.
[00:24:49] Maria: So I had been watching Peaceful Profits. Meanwhile, I spent 2022 trying to figure out what I do. Who, what kind of writers do I [00:25:00] help? Cleaning up that messaging, narrowing down my niche, figuring out, what kind of results I can get for clients. That's consistent. Then I spent 2023.
[00:25:11] Maria: I spent most of 2023. I realized I was like, okay, I love supporting romance writers. That's definitely my area of expertise. I definitely am focused more on longevity than quick wins. So I had all of those pieces. And then I spent 2023 really refining my offer and going, okay, I have my [00:25:30] values. I know who I support and how I support them.
[00:25:32] Maria: I know what they can expect to get out of it. How can I turn that into a program? And what will I call that program? And what will the price point be? And throughout that whole thing, I was getting clients, but it was really easy to test. If I tried different messaging, And it was bad messaging. I got zero clients that one.
[00:25:51] Maria: If I tried decent messaging and it worked, I would get three or four clients that month and there was no in between. So my [00:26:00] income every month was just, my revenue was all over the place up and down and up and down. I got really good at taking a month of No revenue, and turning it into the next month being good revenue to compensate for that.
[00:26:14] Maria: But it also allowed me to pull my offer together. By spring of 2023, I had my offer, I had my pieces in place, I had hired another support coach, I had hired a VA, and I was like, okay. I've got it. I've got my messaging. I've got my values. [00:26:30] I've got my offer. I know what I'm doing. I have testimonials.
[00:26:32] Maria: I have client success stories. I've got all of these people that I've already helped. It's time to make this happen and make it bigger and make it more consistent and not bigger for the sake of being bigger, but bigger in the sense that I wanted it to be consistent. I wanted it to be enough business to support myself and my team.
[00:26:53] Maria: Yeah. And that. Was very hit or miss. I tried a couple other [00:27:00] things. I tried hiring a marketing person. I tried hiring a sales team and everything. I tried. My revenue went down instead of up. So then I would fire them and rebuild my business and by October I was like, Okay, I'm done. I can't. Because it's costing me money to hire someone, to train them, to fire them, and then to recover from the financial trauma within my business.
[00:27:25] Maria: And I, I liked that at that point [00:27:30] I'd watched Peaceful Profits long enough that I was confident that you all were real and would do what you said you would do. So at that point, I was like, okay, I'm done. It's time. I need something that's really going to work. I need something that I'm going to be in full control of and in charge of.
[00:27:48] Maria: So instead of hiring, Another guru of some sort. I hired a second VA to help with some of the mundane day to day stuff so that I would [00:28:00] have time to work through the Peaceful Profits Program. And I signed up with Peaceful Profits. By the time I reached out and signed up I already knew. I was like, this is what I'm going to do.
[00:28:12] Maria: I've already hired the VA to backfill some things. I know that I want my book out, and I knew that. I wanted it up and running by February because February my business hits a big lull, like everything takes a big dip. I'm like, I can have that funnel up. to smooth out [00:28:30] my revenue in February. That would be one big win right there.
[00:28:33] Maria: So that I signed up October 16th to get started with all of it. Okay. Oh, that's awesome. There's so many cool parts of your story and so many things that I hope listeners were really paying attention to that I picked out of there. The sales process and you were speaking specifically about Peaceful Profits, but something that everyone can emulate that, that beautiful sales process of you're a [00:29:00] person.
[00:29:00] Chanelle: You're not a quota that I have to meet at the end of the day. I think that's so powerful. And I love your how for a non businessy person, how aware of the data you were and how You were able to react and shift to that data. And I think that's been key in your business because often it's easy, something worked before, so I'm just going to stick with it and it's work, even if it's not working on a stick, my head in the sand and hope for the best.
[00:29:29] Chanelle: [00:29:30] And instead to be really in tune with what needs to happen now, what needs to happen now and continuing to grow your business. I think that's so cool. I would love for you to, and this is always hard, but I would love for you to brag a little bit. I know you have had a lot of successes with your business.
[00:29:47] Chanelle: Some exciting things happen. Just brag session for a minute. We would love to hear some of your successes.
[00:29:55] Maria: Okay. So tomorrow I know we're recording this on January [00:30:00] 15th. Tomorrow is January 16th. That marks 90 days in the Peaceful Profits program for me. I have in the last 90 days, Written an entire nonfiction book it's gone through the Peaceful Profits assessment and gotten feedback three times.
[00:30:18] Maria: So it's continued to get better. I have developed my entire low ticket offer, including all of the upsells. I've created any pieces that were missing and put them all together. The ones that I [00:30:30] had have been like reformatted to, to align with the branding and align with the entire thing. We have built out the entire funnel, written the, all the sales pages, all of that has been assessed by Peaceful Profits.
[00:30:42] Maria: And in fact, this week I'm submitting it for. Another assessment after now that I have some data because I've also put together all of my Facebook ads, gotten my pixels set up, launched the Facebook ads. I launched the Facebook ads about a month ago. So for the last 30 days, I've been working on tweaking and [00:31:00] adjusting things.
[00:31:00] Maria: I am currently at a 4 ROAS, which is nowhere near where I want to end up. But for 30 days in and considering that. The I have not yet put together the abandoned cart emails. Those actually launch tomorrow. Not having that I know that alone will massively increase my row s. So in 90 days.
[00:31:24] Maria: I've written a book, I've built a funnel, I've put together all of the supports to go with, all the bonuses to go with [00:31:30] the book. I've got the email nurture sequence to follow up with all of those bonus videos that, that we give to people as a thank you for buying. I've gotten the Facebook ads launched and I'm tweaking and optimizing that.
[00:31:42] Maria: I have the abandoned cart Email sequence that's about to get started and as of about an hour ago, hour and a half ago, I have now signed two clients directly through that book funnel. I just signed the second one today. The first one I signed [00:32:00] last week where they picked up the book the first of the year.
[00:32:03] Maria: They, in both cases, they went through the funnel to buy the book. And then they scheduled a call with me and. They decided that the writer to author program was absolutely for them which is. Wonderful. Because it's bringing that consistency. I haven't been all the things that I would normally have to go out and do to make that happen.
[00:32:23] Maria: I haven't because I've been busy building the funnel and optimizing the ads. And it's just happening, which is [00:32:30] wonderful.
[00:32:31] Chanelle: Oh, my goodness. Congratulations. Huge congratulations on all that. That is a lot to accomplish in 90 days and it's amazing. You didn't mention, but on a personal note, did you not have a, didn't I hear something about a bestseller that you hit bestseller status on one of your books?
[00:32:50] Maria: So the nonfiction book I wrote with Peaceful Profits actually came out as the number one new release in its, in one of its categories it's called The Truly Successful Author, [00:33:00] and it, I have to credit Peaceful Profits with the feedback that I needed to really make it Exactly what readers needed to see to purchase it without hesitation, because for it to so I only have the paperback available on Amazon because if people want the ebook or the audio edition, I want them getting it through my funnel.
[00:33:23] Maria: No but I do have the paperback on Amazon because I want to be able to collect those reviews. I want that presence there. I want people to be able [00:33:30] to look it up and see it is. It is a real book kind of thing. And so for it to only be paperback, for me to have no Amazon ads running to it, nothing like that, I'm directing everyone to the funnel and yet enough people are finding it on Amazon, Amazon showing it to enough people and they're picking it up.
[00:33:50] Maria: I'm averaging one to three paperback sales per day through Amazon. In addition to the average of three sales a day, [00:34:00] I'm making through the funnel. Amazing. Amazing. I love it. That is so awesome. Oh, that's so cool. It is so cool to see all the things that you have done, not only in the last 90 days, but with your business.
[00:34:14] Chanelle: It's inspiring to hear your success. What advice would you give to other people who want to have similar success and see these kinds of results in their business?
[00:34:27] Maria: Humanity and passion have to come [00:34:30] first. If you prioritize being a human being who lives and works with other human beings, doing something that you love to help them accomplish something they love, then everything else falls into place and you don't have to worry about it.
[00:34:47] Maria: You still have to do the math at the end of the day, but it's so much easier if the human and the passion piece come first. The other stuff just becomes little details. [00:35:00] It also makes it really easy to get past that analysis paralysis because I never had this list of all these things I wanted to do.
[00:35:13] Maria: Instead, I woke up every morning going, How, what's one thing I can do to help one group of writers today? And that snowballs very quickly.
[00:35:25] Chanelle: Oh, I love it. I love if we could all be like that. [00:35:30] Seriously that's the kind of business that we are trying to help people grow here. So truly that's inspirational.
[00:35:38] Chanelle: So thank you, Maria. I love it. So to close out here, where can people find you and learn more about your work?
[00:35:46] Maria: So the best places to find me are my website, allrightwell. com, and it's write, W R I T E. The other place that you can find me is on Facebook. I have a Facebook group, A W Romance Writers that [00:36:00] I host free live sessions every Tuesday night.
[00:36:03] Maria: We share free resources in there. And it's just a really great, positive, supportive community. Unlike a lot of groups, I don't Turn on post approvals because I want it to be an engaging community. And because of that, the community is phenomenal. Like I love every time I'm in there, I see community members chatting with each other and helping each other out and supporting each other.
[00:36:24] Maria: So it's great to be a leader of a group like that. Wonderful. [00:36:30] Okay. Thank you so much for being here. We have learned a lot today, really been inspired by the things that you've shared. And for listeners, if you are in a place where you're ready to take your business to the next level, PeacefulProfits.com/call. Maria Secoy thank you again for being here and we'll see you all next time. Bye.
