You're Already an Authorpreneur (You Just Don't Know It Yet)

I’ve never pictured myself as a keynote speaker (not really).

When I think “keynote speaker,” I think of people like, Rick Lozano—the Musical Motivator, who I met at an NSA conference. People like Rick command a stage, inspire crowds, deliver those BIG motivational moments that get everyone fired up and ready to take on the world.

That’s not me. I’m more of a workshop person. So when I think about the speaking engagements I want to go after, I see myself doing breakouts and training sessions. I feel comfortable in the room where we roll up our sleeves and get into the details together.

But then Rick and I started brainstorming about what talks I actually want to be doing. We were exploring ideas, connecting dots, and suddenly we hit on something that made my whole body light up. An idea that was big enough, meaningful enough, that it could absolutely be a keynote.

I’d been standing at the threshold of a new identity without even realizing the door was unlocked.

The Label You’re Not Letting Yourself Claim

Here’s what I know about you: You’re running a business. You’re doing good work. Your clients are happy. You solve problems, deliver results, and keep things moving forward.

But here’s what I also know: There’s a book inside you that you’re not writing.

Maybe you think you don’t have “big enough” ideas. Maybe you believe what you do is just common sense, just doing your job well, nothing special. Or perhaps you’ve convinced yourself that you don’t have a system—that what works for your clients is some mysterious alchemy you couldn’t possibly capture in words.

Or maybe you’re just plain worried. A book is a big commitment. What if you don’t have what it takes?

I get it. I’ve been there.

When I sat down to write Unwritten, I had exactly the same thought. I don’t have a system for writing books. Every project is different. What I do is sit down with a client, listen to what they have to say, and somehow a book springs from my brain (and how would any of this be helpful for a DIY author?). There’s A LOT of magic involved, and that’s hard to pin down on a page. 

But then I started writing. And the book fell out of my brain in two months.

You never know what you have until you start writing.

The Permission You’ve Been Waiting For

The truth is, you’re already an authorpreneur. You’re just not calling yourself one yet.

An authorpreneur isn’t just a business owner who happens to write. It’s someone who recognizes that their expertise, their perspective, their hard-won knowledge is worth sharing at scale. It’s someone who sees their business as more than transactions—it’s a platform for ideas.

You might not feel ready for that label. But consider this: If you’re worried that you don’t have anything worth writing about, that’s actually a good sign. It means you can tell the difference between high-quality content and bullsh*t. It means you have standards.

And this is exactly what you need to write a great book.

You Might Already Be Living This Identity

Let me show you what I mean. Here are four clues you’re already thinking like an authorpreneur—you just haven’t given yourself permission to own it yet.

Clue #1: You mentally rewrite the business books you read. You don’t just absorb information—you argue with it, improve on it, wonder why the author didn’t mention the thing you know matters most.

Clue #2: You have strong opinions about your industry. Not just complaints, but genuine ideas about how things should change, what’s missing, what could be better.

Clue #3: There’s an idea that won’t leave you alone. A concept you keep coming back to. A framework you’ve mentioned in three different client presentations. A pattern you keep noticing that no one else seems to talk about.

Clue #4: You help people see things differently. Your clients don’t just hire you for your services; they hire you because you reframe their problems in ways that make solutions obvious.

What Changes When You Accept This Identity

When I finally let myself think of myself as a keynote speaker—not someday, but now—everything shifted. The ideas that had been floating around separately suddenly connected. The stories I’d been telling in small rooms suddenly felt like they belonged on bigger stages.

The same thing happens when you accept that you’re an authorpreneur.

You stop waiting for permission to share your ideas. You stop dismissing your insights as “obvious” or “nothing special.” You start seeing your daily work through a different lens: not just as service delivery, but as research for the book you’re going to write.

You start asking different questions: What patterns am I noticing? What do my clients struggle with that I can help solve at scale? What hard-earned lessons could save someone else years of trial and error?

And here’s the beautiful part: The book doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to revolutionize your entire industry. It just has to be yours—your perspective, your process, your truth.

Your Next Step

If any of this is resonating with you—if you’re feeling that little tug of recognition, that whisper of “maybe I could”—then I want to invite you to take the next step with me.

I’m hosting a series of workshops next year designed specifically for people like you: business owners who are ready to step into their authorpreneur identity and see what happens when they do.

The first workshop will be all about meeting your author self. Not the intimidated version who thinks they need to have it all figured out first. The real one. The one who already has something worth saying.

We’ll explore each stage of the writing process in subsequent workshops, but we’re starting with the most important step: recognizing that you’re already closer to being an author than you think.

I know this about you because here’s what I’ve learned from helping powerful people write business books: The difference between someone who gets their book done and someone who doesn’t isn’t talent or time or even having the “right” idea.

It’s simply accepting the label. Saying yes to the identity. Believing that what you know matters.

You’re already an authorpreneur.

Now it’s time to write like one.

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