Author Interview With Book-Coaching Client Michelle Hubert

Michelle Hubert has found freedom living a life that is balanced, organized, and structured so she can spend time helping others. Serving individuals and businesses in this capacity has become her passion. She is the Regional Vice President with Farm Bureau Financial Services and partner of Freedom Impact Group, LLC. To find out more about her, and her book Finding Freedom In A Framework: Moving Out Of Chaos and Into Purpose, visit her website. Her book is available on Amazon here.

I have had the desire in my heart to write a book for at least 5 years.  A couple of years ago a mentor of mine pushed me to “get it started”.  He had been encouraging me to move in that direction for a while, but he was really challenging me to just take the first step.  I decided that I would follow his advice.  I started organizing “words on a page” as he put it and quit worrying about what the next 20 steps would need to be.

There is definitely a spiritual reference in that word for me.  I did some intentional work a few years ago to uncover lies that I had been telling myself over pretty much my entire lifetime, and to break free from them.  That transformation created freedom in every area of my life.  Creating my story free from those lies has dramatically reduced (and maybe even completely eliminated) my fear in my life.  I have found that when I have a solid framework to lean on in any area of my life – it creates more freedom for me.  My personal mission statement is to live a life that is balanced, organized, and structured in a way that I can spend the majority of my time helping others.  If I can focus on that, it sets me free from unhealthy striving and comparison,…and to contribute to the world in a way that only I can.

Years!  Maybe 20 years or so.  It’s essentially taken me my entire adult life.  That is part of the reason why I wanted to write this book, and provide the accompanying workbook.  So that I could provide tools that might shorten that process for others.  When I am mentoring others, this topic often comes up.  People just want to wake up one day with their perfect framework, and it just doesn’t work that way.  It’s a process of discovery and intentional creation.  I developed it over time by paying attention to what ignites passion in me and implementing systems, processes, and daily habits that feed that passion.

Well, obviously it has created more freedom.  Freedom to embrace who I am and to leverage my unique gifts to serve the greater good.  It has helped me create a life that is intentional and lived in confidence; not out of fear.  Finally, it is helping me build a legacy that I can be proud of.  It provides capacity and the right environment to promote creativity.   It helps me focus on the two areas where I believe all progress lives:  Connection and Consistency.

Wow, that is hard to articulate.  Every minute of the process has been a learning experience.  I learned that I love (and hate) to write.  Those of you who are writers will know exactly what I mean by that.  I do have a passion for it, and I am sure I will continue to feed that passion.  I learned that you don’t need to know what the 12^th or 40^th step is when you are doing something new.  You only need to know (and focus) on what the NEXT step is (hard for a planner and someone who likes to feel like they are in control).  I learned that the frameworks that I had built in other areas of my life also applied to writing a book.  Embrace YOU (be authentic), Design Your Life (create the right daily habits), Build your Legacy (write with intention).  I learned not to listen to the lies (Who do you think you are?  What will people think?  Why would anyone care what you have to say?), and to focus on the gift I believed that I had to deliver – even if it only resonated with 1 person.  I learned that just like every other area of my life connection and consistency are important.  I connected with the right people to help me in this journey and trusted their experience and expertise.  I leveraged consistency to persevere over a 2 year period and bring the book and workbook to fruition.  I learned to follow my heart and trust my instincts.

Structure:  Having a framework to operate within is very important to me.  The structure of a meeting cadence that made sense for both of us gave me the framework I need to keep moving in the right direction.  I always knew what my “next steps” were and what I needed to be working on immediately.

Content:  I have a little natural ability and passion for writing, but as a first-time author I have A LOT to learn and massive room for growth.  Working with a book coach made me a better writer.  Patricia pushed me where I needed to grow and validated my strengths.  I LOVED the candid/direct feedback, it was exactly what I needed to take this book to the next level.

Process:  I knew nothing (and still know very little) about the publishing process.  She guided me and always had my goals and best interest at heart.  She helped me deliver something that contained “more of me” and in a way that would support my personal goals.  She was more connected to and more invested in my book than anyone I had worked with previously.

As a first-time author, working with the right book coach was critical.  Patricia kept me moving, made me better, and guided me thru the process.  We are now discussing what our next project will be together!

We have discussed possibly adding a blog to freedomimpactgroup.com, so that could be on the horizon.  There are other books in my heart, I just need a minute to discern what should be making its way onto paper at this point.  I want to be a good writer, and the only way to get good at anything is to keep practicing, learning, and growing.  I am loving life and having a ton of fun in the season I am in – I truly can’t imagine it getting better than this!