Project Person // A chat with Seth Godin

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One of the things I love most about my agent is that he gathers all his writers together once a month for a Zoom chat with someone he knows from the industry. We’ve spoken to authors, cover designers, marketers, and editors, and we’ve learned so much each time—both in how to practically navigate this publishing world and in how to emotionally/spiritually handle it, too.

Last month, we got to talk to Seth Godin 🤯

I can trace a lot of my marketing and entrepreneurial work back to Seth’s books, from Permission Marketing to the idea of a tribe to a decision-making framework I gleaned from The Dip. He also recently wrote his 10,000th blog post, meaning he’s been doing a blog post a day for over 25 years. This put some extra weight behind his advice; he’s seen a lot.

It was such a gift to get to ask him a question directly in a small group setting like this. In fact, it gave me an idea for another project I want to start, but more on that in a future email…

He spoke so candidly and freely to us as authors and entrepreneurs, and I was furiously jotting down notes (when not trying to nonchalantly get a screen grab of us smiling-ish).

In no particular order, here are some of the most poignant lessons I took away from this call:

→ On education: “We are teaching people to memorize things that they can look up for free. We need to teach people to solve problems and to lead.” 

→ On pursing something great: “Don’t wreck the arc of what you are trying to do for the hustle.” 

→ On growth: “The only thing that works is if your fans get you more fans, and that will happen if you help them accomplish what they want to accomplish.” 

→ On writer’s block: “Just write something every day. There’s no such thing as ‘typer’s block.’” 

→ On criticism: “Don’t read the reviews because you’re not going to write this book again anyway.” 

→ On book sales: “It’s your job to sell the first 10,000 copies. It’s the book’s job to sell the next 100,000. The book should sell the book.”

→ On creativity: “The creative act is to do something that smart people will say, ‘It will never work.’”

A few other highlights from the call:

• He said he “got lucky” and sold his first book, but then he got 800 rejection letters when he tried to sell his second. These were letters he received in the mail! “800 people bought a stamp to tell me no.”

• He continually brought answers back to the concept of, “How are you helping someone else get to where they are going?” From sales to writing to just being a human being, I thought this was a great concept.

• And finally, after I introduced myself and asked him a question, he started his response with, “Hi Callie. Thank you for writing your book.” (Can I make that a blurb on the cover of my novel or what, Seth?!?!)

And finally, my biggest thought: I found myself wondering what I’d want to do 10,000 times. What was something that I’d look back on in 25 years and think, “That was time well spent.” (And what was something I actually could do 10,000 times… that’s ~once every day.)

This isn’t groundbreaking, but I decided to journal—to write a quick prayer each night unloading the major thing on my mind. I’m currently eight nights in. Some have been thoughts of gratitude, some have been laying down a worry, and some have just been summarizing my day.

Just 9,992 to go 😎

You can see Seth’s books (22 best sellers!) and sign up for his email here.

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David Melton, who leads growth for the ATL ADU CO, a company providing full-service accessory dwelling units. Check out his articles like How to Finance an ADU or Why You Should Build an ADU for the World Cup to start dreaming!

For the last year, this email has generally followed this format: I share a profile of a “Project Person”, and then we follow up with a primer about a specific topic. I’ve lovedlovedloved pulling these together… However, as I finish up my first novel and start on my second, my writing brain is TOAST.

I have already interviewed one more really special Project Person but am waiting to write and send that email. In the meantime, I’m going to send along various writings and thoughts that I think you might enjoy, many of which have been hiding out unread in my Google Drive.

The next one, for instance, will be all about failure—in particular, my husband’s and my own biggest professional ones (juicy!). Stay tuned.