Podcast 154. Writing a Book to Expand Your Business with Miriam Laundry

Average Joe Finances:
0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Average Joe Finances podcast. I'm your host, Mike Cavaggioni, and today's guest is Miriam Laundry. Miriam, super excited to talk to you today. This is gonna be a little bit different of some of the episodes that we've had and some of the guests that we've had on the show. But nonetheless, super excited to talk about this topic. Miriam, welcome to the show.

Miriam Laundry:
0:17

Thank you for having me here mike. Thank you.

Average Joe Finances:
0:20

Yeah, absolutely. Hey, the first thing I want to ask you is if you could share a little bit about yourself, share your story, who is Miriam Laundry, and then if you could brief us on what we're gonna be talking about today in that intro as well.

Miriam Laundry:
0:32

Okay, sure. Yes. I'm like you said, I'm Miriam Laundry. I'm from Niagara Falls, Canada. I am a mother of four children have always been an entrepreneur. Just love business. I started investing in real estate at a young age, at the age of 19. I continue to do that. That's been always my constant, my husband and I, and really. Have had different businesses through the years, but a decade ago I decided that I was gonna write a children's book. And that did not come from a desire to want to make money. It came from a desire to want to make a difference in the lives of children. So for the past decade, that's been my focus and I really feel that now I'm living on purpose. I am doing the things that I love impacting children's lives. And yeah, that's the backstory. That's in a nutshell who I am but I'll tell you that I was inspired to write for children while attending a Jack Camfield seminar. Jack Camfield is the author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, all of those books, and really, I think he has about 300 different books out in the world. And that week. We were learning about positivity, about mindset, about setting goals, going for our dreams, figuring out our passions and all of those great things. And I kept thinking about my four children at home and how I wish I would've learned that when I was younger and how I wanted to teach them while they're young. So on the flight home, I decided that I was going to write a children's book so that I wouldn't just come home and dump this information on them. I would put it, I would hide it into a fun story. So I wrote my first manuscript to my first book. It's called I Can Believe In Myself on That Flight Home. And that's what started my career as a children's book author and now I'm a publisher also.

Average Joe Finances:
2:24

Wow. That is fantastic. So actually, one of the things I wanted to ask you is like how you got started. So you went to this seminar, right? And got this bug put in your ear, right? And you were like, I want to make a difference in young people's lives and children's lives and, show them the things that I wish I knew when I was younger. So I think that's really amazing. So not only did you get Hey, I want to do this. You immediately took action. So I think that's huge. A lot of times people think about things and they say, oh, it'd be really nice if I did so and or if I did whatever and, they don't do anything about it. They just think about it and they get this, analysis paralysis, right? You've been investing in real estate, right? So I'm sure you've seen that in, in that aspect as well, right? But that's not what we're talking about today. Today we're talking about writing books, so I'm really excited about that. So anyway you got this idea, to write books and you took action immediately, got into it. How has this opened up, like different opportunities for you.

Miriam Laundry:
3:18

Yes, so I am, I now have five children's books that I have written myself, but even with the first one, I found out that, Opportunities just kept coming to me. I started going into schools and speaking to children, and that was so rewarding because I got to see firsthand what children thought about my stories and I didn't just wanna come into the schools and read my story. I always had an experiential exercise to go along with it cause I wanted them to remember the message that they can go for whatever they want it to in the world. So that was a lot of but from there I got invited to speak at a TEDx event that was happening locally in Niagara. That was really exciting. So it opened up doors for speaking for sure. The following year I continued to go to the Jack Campfield seminar, continued to invest in myself and there he had us write our big, hairy, audacious goal, and I wrote for myself, I wanted to empower a hundred thousand children to believe in themselves. That was a lot of children. And just to give you a little tiny backstory, Mike I started wanting to write because of my children, but we had also lost a very close family member, a young close family member to suicide. So I was very driven, I really wanted to impact a lot of children. So I wrote that goal that I would empower a hundred thousand children, and I had no idea how I was gonna do that. But whenever you put a goal like that out and you start telling people, you start surrounding yourself with the people that believe in you, that encourage you. I ended up doing that a year later. I said a Guinness World Record and empowered 103,000 children through this record. Amazing. And I had the bug to keep putting out children's books and to keep empowering kids.

Average Joe Finances:
5:08

Yeah. That is awesome. So yeah, that big hairy, audacious goal. One of the things that I like about what you're talking about is, you said that you were telling other people about it, and that's one of the important things, right? Because that's one of those things that's gonna hold yourself accountable, right? Because you're like, I'm telling people I'm gonna do this. So I better get it done right?

Miriam Laundry:
5:26

Yes.

Average Joe Finances:
5:27

Yeah that's awesome.

Miriam Laundry:
5:28

I do wanna tell you that it was not without fear.

Average Joe Finances:
5:31

Oh, Absolutely.

Miriam Laundry:
5:33

I was so full of fear first. I had the fear of, what are people gonna say? I'm writing a book. I've never written anything before. Then who does she think she is to go for such a big goal, but you have to surround yourself around positive people that lift you up, but as soon as my book came out, what I realized is that it had the opposite effect on people. People were telling me that I was inspiring them to go for their dreams or go for something that they had wanted to do for a long time. So we have this fear, but it's really the opposite, people are happy for you. People encourage you, people help you out. So I wanted to say that just in case there's any listener out there, wherever you invest or whatever you spend your time doing and you want to go for something bigger, like it doesn't happen without having those I call them the big bad bully thoughts, our own inner bully thoughts, but we have to find a way to overcome them.

Average Joe Finances:
6:23

Oh I love that. Absolutely. And it's a testament to who you surround yourself with, right? If you're gonna surround yourself with people that are positive and encouraging and helping to push you along the path that you've chosen, right? Versus surrounding yourself with people that are gonna hold you back or hold you down. I was having a conversation with somebody the other day about that, about, when. Into real estate investing, how important it is, that you go to these meetups, that you meet these like-minded people and that you start hanging out with them, right? And sometimes you got to cut some of the dead weight. I'm not saying you have to get rid of all your old friends, but what I'm saying is if they're gonna be negative and hold you back, it's, it might be time to say, Hey guys, look, I'm moving on with my life and it's time for me to move on up and get out so you guys can come with me if you want but if not, got to cut that out, right? cause the negativity is just one of those things that will just eat away at you and eat away at you and eat away at you. And as you're moving closer towards your goal, it's, you're gonna have that little, not Jiminy Cricket, but the other, the opposite of Jiminy Cricket in your ear, telling you that you can't do this. And then if you have somebody kind of fueling that's not a good place to be. You wanna be able to just squash that thing off your shoulder and keep moving. Now when it comes to writing a children's book, is this something that you believe anybody can do?

Miriam Laundry:
7:34

Yes. So the short answer of that is I believe everybody is capable of writing a children's book. Let me just tell you about one of my authors. I think I can better explain this way. When Brian Williams came to me about almost two years ago now, he's a businessman, a real estate investor out of California, and he said to me, I really wanna write a children's book. but I have no idea how to do it. Can you ghost write it for me? Can I just pay you to ghost write it for me? And I said, I really believe that you can do this. If you can't, I will. I can do that. But I really think that I can teach you a couple of things and you can write your children's book. So his passions are real estate and then baking. So he was already going into schools teaching kids how to bake. And through that he was inspiring them to believe that they can be anything they wanna be in the world. So he wanted a children's book to continue going into schools and to have that those moments with children where he would be inspiring them. He came into one of my programs. I taught him how to write effectively for children, and he ended up writing his own book. He was just so proud of himself because that book did really well. It became a bestseller on Amazon and it recently received an award. So the guy that didn't think he could write is now an award-winning children's book author, and he uses that book. He's very generous. He gives a hundred percent of the proceeds to children in his own community that need it, for sports and for different things. So I believe that anybody can write a children's book now to write a great children's book. There's just some things that you need to know. It's like anything, right? You have to learn how to do it and then put that into practice. So yes, anybody can write a children's.

Average Joe Finances:
9:12

Okay. I love that, I love that. And I love that you have a story that you're able to share with us as an example of how you can do that. cause I've found myself like not necessarily a children's book, but I eventually wanna write a book about just all the stuff I've learned from the guests that I've had on my show and the podcast. And I wanted to break it down by each interview that I've had and have that as a chapter, but I'm not trying to make it like super long. But one of the things I'm looking at doing is like transcribing all the episodes and then working that into either a story or each its own separate story and chapter. Because there, there's been so many people that come on the show and share so much great information. So that's something I'm looking to do in the future. I'm not sure when. It's just hanging out there right now.. But yeah I just think something like that would be super neat and I know other people have done that in the past. And I feel like it's just a great way to get the information out there for people to read it besides just listening to the show. Some people prefer books and that's why I transcribe all my episodes too.

Miriam Laundry:
10:06

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
10:07

Awesome. Okay.

Miriam Laundry:
10:08

The key is to start writing, to start working on it, right?

Average Joe Finances:
10:11

Yeah, this whole thing for me, this whole project started as a blog, right? So I was talking about like my own personal finance journey. When I started investing in real estate, I was talking about that. And then a friend of mine twisted my arm and said, Hey, start a podcast. I know you like to talk to people, bring people on and talk to them. And I'm like, ah.

Miriam Laundry:
10:27

Perfect.

Average Joe Finances:
10:27

Okay, yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Now what? Let's say, I maybe wanted to shift that mindset maybe into a children's book. Like how, what if you wanna I guess write a children's book, but you don't know exactly what you want to write about, because I'll give you an example here. I had somebody that came on my show and he wrote a book called grandpa's Fables. It's Grandpa's Fable something. I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but my kids are reading this book right now actually. They're almost done. They absolutely love it. It reminded me of the richest man in Babylon for children.

Miriam Laundry:
10:55

I love that.

Average Joe Finances:
10:55

I thought this was amazing. So if I was gonna do something like that's what I would wanna do. I would wanna make something that's like fun stories that teaches those basic foundational lessons of compound interest and things like that to make it more digestible for children to understand. If I was gonna do something like that's how I'd wanna do it. So like how? So actually I have an idea of what I would wanna do. What do you do if you're not too sure about what.

Miriam Laundry:
11:18

Yeah.

Average Joe Finances:
11:19

The specific topic you wanna write about.

Miriam Laundry:
11:21

Yes. So two things for that and you've just shared the first one. The first one would be, what message do you want to share with the next generation? Because we know that. A book is a platform, a children's book is a platform to share something that may be important to the author, something that you find valuable. So that would be number one. What do you want to share that, with the next generation? And two, what kind of books do you want to see more of in the world? And I go back to my authors and to the books we've publish. I think of Cindy Crosby who wanted who was inspired one day when she was in the playground with her son, and her son was trying to play with another little boy, but the other boy did not speak English and she noticed how they just couldn't communicate. So she went home and wanted to find a book that would teach her son just how to say hello in other languages, and she couldn't find the book. So she decided to write her book. It's called Saying Hello Around the World. And she's basically teaching kids how to say hi, how to say thank you. What foods do other people in other countries eat? All those things that were important to her. So she wrote the book. She wanted to see other, another one of my authors is writing a book about fear of the unknown, fear of change and how to deal with that. So she is actually a life coach and that's something that she wants. To teach the children, but we do have to be careful, Mike, that our children's books are not too heavy on the message because kids go to school all day, they don't want to learn when they go home in their free time. They just wanna read a book. They don't want to be learning something. So the key as a children's book author, is to remember that our number one goal is to entertain the child. And then if we can hide that message, if we can bury that message into the story where the child's gonna discover it for themselves, then we've done our job. So there are.

Average Joe Finances:
13:16

Yeah, just like you sneak vegetables in you, you sneak cauliflower into the mashed potatoes and things like that, right?. Miriam Laundry: Exactly. Exactly. But just remember that a children's book is a platform for you to share something. A lot of times a children's book can be an extension of a business that somebody has, like real estate teaching kids about real estate, or like you said, teaching them about finances at a young age. So yeah, it's really important. I really believe that we can change the world with quality children's books because by the time children are eight or nine, that's when they're reading children's picture. but by that time they've decided who they are in the world Studies show that they've made a decision about whether they're smart or not, whether they're outgoing or not, sporty or not. So I think it's important to get to children at an earlier age with the fun book. Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fantastic. So that, that's a great way to figure out like what specific topic you wanna write about. What do you wanna see more of? Or what is it that you wish you knew when you were younger? Like different things like that can really help inspire you, right?. But the other part of this is now, and I really would love to hear like how you found this to work for you, especially cause you said you were investing in real estate. So I know you're an entrepreneur, right? And I know how busy somebody in that realm can be. So where do you find the time to actually sit down and write the book?

Miriam Laundry:
14:38

I'll say this part. Writing an adult book, cause I initially was thinking of writing an adult book takes 70 to 80,000 words in a book, a children's picture book is anywhere from 600 to a thousand words. So that doesn't mean that the writing is super easy.

Average Joe Finances:
14:54

That's like a blog post for me.

Miriam Laundry:
14:55

There you go. There you go. You just have to make sure that every word really captures your reader and it's taking them closer to the end, right? That's the main thing. There is work involved, but it's not a huge project like an adult book it is. Now how to find the time to write, because you're right, we're all busy. If it's important to you and we know this, just like investing in real estate, if that's I important to you, you will find the time to make it happen. I would focus on why do you want to write for children? Like, why do you really want to, if it's not something that's important to you, you're not gonna do it. If it's important, you will find the time. Waking up a little bit earlier I'll tell you my secret, we do have four children and it's really busy at home. Anytime that I've wanted to write and I'm writing my sixth book, I talked to my husband and I negotiate, can I have two nights to go away? I'll just go to a local hotel or even one and by myself, I can be inspired to write. I think it's always important to have an outline for your book and like I said earlier, every, anybody can write a book, but there's information you need to know. And I do have I offer a free blueprint, how to Write your own children's book on my website. Your listeners are welcome to go get that. It basically starts with what message do you wanna right. Then we reverse that to what is the problem in the story? What is the problem that the main character has to solve? And then how to get through to that, to the ending so that your main character is the hero of the story.

Average Joe Finances:
16:22

No that's fantastic. And I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna give you a chance to share that at the end. So for those of you listening right now, make sure you stay to the end of this episode so you can get a copy of that blueprint and check out her website. Miriam. Awesome. I feel like I've learned so much just in this short conversation. And it's really inspiring too. Maybe I should write a children's book. I don't know. Like it's, I need some more time to chew on it but this is really neat. And one of the reasons why I started this podcast was to inspire and affect younger people, not necessarily children. My target was like People coming out to high school or college, young twenties to help inspire them to make the right financial decisions younger in life. So when they reach my age, they're like fully retired and able to live and enjoy life instead of waiting till they're in their late fifties and sixties. If, yeah, if we could start. Earlier than that is super amazing. And just the impact you can make on people to me that's more than anything versus, who cares if it makes some money? That's great if it makes some money, and I get a little cash in my pocket, that's fine. That's cool. But it's the impact that matters to me., right? Same thing with this podcast. It's the impact that it has on people and it that it inspires people. I One of the best things that I can get. Best compliments. I could care less about those reviews. I like getting reviews, so if you're listening to this, go, leave me a review. But when I get like a DM on social media or something saying, Hey, that episode with really helped push me to go do A, B, C, or D, thank you so much. Like when I get stuff like that means more to me than anything else. That this podcast can do honestly. So anyway I just wanna get that out there because this is the type of stuff that's really inspiring. So me, I really appreciate that. I'd like to transition this into something that we call the final round. And this will give the audience an opportunity to really understand how you are when you've dealt with difficult situations and how you've overcome them. So if you're ready to go, we'll get that party.

Miriam Laundry:
18:08

Yes. Sure. Let's do it.

Average Joe Finances:
18:10

All right, let's do it. Hey, the first question of the final round is, what's the biggest mistake you've ever made?

Miriam Laundry:
18:15

The biggest mistake that I've ever made That would be to think that I can do things alone to just count on myself because yes, we can do a lot on our own. And I wrote a book about I can't believe in myself, but even in the book, it's good to know when you need to ask for help. Find, help, hire somebody hire hiring. My first assistant was, that just changed my business, right? I don't have to know how to do everything. I can find the people that is their gift and that is their passion. So the biggest mistake was to wait too long before I hired my first person.

Average Joe Finances:
18:48

Okay. I really appreciate that answer because I struggled with that too. And it, when, and when I finally did hire an assistant, it completely changed everything for me. And I'm like, oh, okay this is a little bit easier to do now because offload some of the stuff that's taken up all this time that I don't really wanna do to someone else that wants to do it or is better at doing it than me. No, I definitely appreciate that. Now the next question I have, Miriam kind of ties into that one and that is, what is something that you've learned that you wish you knew when you first started?

Miriam Laundry:
19:18

I wish I would have believed in myself. A lot quicker than I did. So I talked about that bully in our minds because I think that happens for all of us regardless of age. I have a children's book called The Big Bad Bully, but the twist is that it's not the outside bully that affects us, only the outside bully, but it's our own self-doubt our own insecurities, our own self-judgment that affects us from moving on. So I wish I would've known that earlier that. Just to believe in myself that I can do it, I can do hard things and I can figure it out.

Average Joe Finances:
19:52

Okay. Yeah, that, that is a great answer. Miriam, I really appreciate that. You know it a lot of times cause we talked about this earlier too, right? How it's important to, to have other people on your side, in your corner, right? But if you're not believing in yourself and you're not in your own corner you're gonna be struggling for a while. You can have all the teammates you need, but if you aren't backing yourself up, then you're gonna find yourself struggling a lot. So I definitely appreciate that. All right. So the next question I have is, do you have any tips or tricks that you would recommend to someone that is just getting started today? And I'm talking about somebody that wants to start writing a children's book.

Miriam Laundry:
20:29

Yes. It's for anybody that wants to it's a tip for everything. It would be to find a group of people to find the accountability, to find a mentor, even, to put yourself in the room, whether it be virtual or live of other people who are stretching themselves, who are going for bigger goals. If it is to write a children's book, put yourself in the room with other people that are learning how to do that with a mentor, that you can ask questions because it elevates us. anytime that I've been able to accomplish a big goal, I al I refer to Jack Campfield cause I went to a lot of his seminars. I did Robert Kiyosaki for a long time. This is going back over 20 years, so anytime that I've been able to accomplish a goal is because I've either hired a mentor or because I've put myself in a mastermind, in a group of people that are supporting me. They're elevating me and they're holding me account.

Average Joe Finances:
21:22

I absolutely love that. That's actually something that we talk about on this podcast all the time is surrounding yourself with like-minded people that are gonna hold you accountable. That's why I love masterminds. I love coaches. I love, people going out there and finding a mentor like you just said, and going out to these meetups. I think that's super important. Yeah. So thank you so much for that. Okay. Now the final question of the final round is more., I guess a opinion-based question, but do you have a favorite business investing or real estate related book or podcast or both?

Miriam Laundry:
21:53

My business mentor, his name is Chris Harder. He has a podcast called the Chris Harder Show, and his wife has another one. Earn Your Happy Lori Harder. I listened to them a lot. I've also started listening to Jenna Kutcher and the Gold Digger podcast. I really like that. I listen to a lot of podcasts, if I'm driving anywhere, if I'm going for a walk, I'm listening because I want to be learning. I wanna hear people's experiences. I appreciate what you shared about your goal, why you started this podcast, like that's beautiful. That's amazing. I think we need to get to people when they're younger, so whether it be teens or whether it be children, it's always important.

Average Joe Finances:
22:32

Yeah. That's fantastic. Thank you so much. I wrote those two podcasts down. I'm gonna go check 'em out. I am also a big podcast listener. I think I have, right now, I have 38 podcasts on my list. It's absolutely insane. I can never get to all of them. But anytime I'm in the car driving anywhere I would say usually when I commuted to work is when I would listen to it, right? But now that I'm not commuting anywhere because I retired from the Navy and now I'm home. Now it's like anytime I get in the car to go to an appointment, cause I'm also a real estate agent or go do a showing or anything like that. I'm listening to a podcast. Anytime we're going out shopping or something like that, my kids hate this. I got a podcast on. Sometimes I'll put music on for them, if they're. Getting a little wonky, but but yeah, when I'm working out podcasts unless I need a little extra motivation, then I'm gonna listen to some music. But I think that's super important that when you have that opportunity to consume that content, that you're consuming that content, right? The stuff that's gonna push you to be a better version of yourself. I don't listen to just real estate and investing podcasts. I listen to a lot of self-help podcasts. I feel you know anything. That's going to make me a better person and better at my craft is something that I want to continuously listen to. So I definitely appreciate your recommendations that you shared here. I'm gonna check them out. Okay, so that is it for the final round, Miriam, but I do have one more super important question and is the most important question of all because people that have been listening to this interview are, Wow. I really love what she's doing. I feel inspired and motivated. Maybe I want to go write a book now. I wanna get that blueprint right. So where can people find more information about you? Do you have a website you could share with us? Social media pages we could follow? Anything like that?

Miriam Laundry:
24:07

Yeah, for sure. You can go to miriam laundry.com/blueprint to get the blueprint. You'll find all kinds of information about me on the website. Laundry is just like it sounds. Think Clean laundry. miriam laundry.com and I'm on Instagram under Miriam Laundry Publishing is the name of my publishing company.

Average Joe Finances:
24:27

All right. Fantastic. Hey everybody, I'm gonna have those links in the show notes to make it easier for you. So you can either copy and paste or click away. Again, like I always say, don't do it while you're driving. Cause I know a lot of you listen to this while you're on your commute, but just wait till you're in a safe place where you can actually get that info. But Miriam, thank you so much. This was, An inspirational interview. You got me feeling pumped up. I'm a little sick right now. I'm sure people that have listened to my show for a while can hear it in my voice battling something going on here. It's not covid, knock on wood. But but I just wanna say thank you again so much for coming on and having this conversation with me.

Miriam Laundry:
24:59

This was fun. Thank you for having me.

Average Joe Finances:
25:01

Yeah, absolutely. And hey, to my listeners, thank you so much for joining me in our special guest, Miriam Laundry, on the Average Joe Finances Podcast. Go leave us a five star review and tell us what you liked about today's episode with Miriam. Aloha from Hawaii and have a great rest of your day.