When I started my own business in 2019, I had all kinds of angst about “selling” myself.

I believe in the work I do. I know that I HELP businesses and I know that I am really good at selling wine online, but making the shift from selling somebody else’s business/products/services to selling MYSELF took some work. But I learned a powerful concept from the book ‘Entrepreneurial You’ by Dori Clark that inspired my pricing when I first got started and is a lesson I share with other aspiring women professionals as well.

Dori’s formula for pricing yourself is this:

Fear + 10%

In other words, what is a number you consider to be a little audacious? A number you’re scared to ask for. Add 10% to that number. Then, go to bat for yourself.

What this forces you to do is actually FACE that scary number, put it on paper, or into your calculator if you suck at math like I do. The ‘Add 10%’ part of the equation makes you shoot higher than you’re afraid to shoot, and that stretches those “go to bat for yourself” muscles. Every time you do this, you get braver and stronger. And the braver and stronger you get, the more impact you can make.

Fear + 10%

You can apply this to more than pay. And that’s what today’s post is about.

I’m writing a book.

I have a trillion fears. I have no business writing a book! I’m not a billionaire, I don’t have thousands of followers on social media, I fuck up all the time, who wants life advice from me? What if nobody reads this? What if people DO read it and they HATE it? It takes time, and I am always complaining about how busy I am! I’ll uncover all kinds of thoughts and fears while writing! I’ll have to face old memories that trigger emotions I haven’t opened myself up to for way too long.

FEAR. FEAR. FEAR. I put all that fear down on paper.

And then I added 10% to it. How? By sharing this blog post.

It’s January 10, 2025, and by the end of this year I will have written and if necessary, self-published a book called ‘Work Hard Mom Harder’ (sound familiar?) designed to inspire women to step into their most authentic selves in their personal lives and in their careers. This book will capture my entire experience as I pursue an impossible goal in my business while also still showing up as my most vibrant self personally (as a mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, but most importantly as The Me I am Intended To Be).

This book has been a dream of mine for over a decade. I’ve started and stopped a few times. I have old chapters written that aren’t relevant anymore, new chapters in my heart that need to come out on paper.

What TASKS do I need to accomplish to make this dream a reality?

Well, I need a writing process. I haven’t been in the habit of writing for myself in years. So starting this week (!!) I began carving out a 30 minute chunk of time in the morning, when my kids will likely be asleep, to just write. Write on all the topics, any topics, get used to writing, be surprised by what comes out.

I also need to publish work.

And so every Friday I will publish something here. I want feedback, comments, problems you’re facing, what you wish a book could help you solve. How you read books, what kinds you enjoy, are you more of an analogy person or a story-lover?

Perhaps this book becomes a roadmap others can follow.

It’s my mission with this book to share the hopeful moments, the epic fails, the ‘rug ripped out from under me’ foibles and the times when my entire idea of what the world is like is ripped away. Because perhaps when you see that I can do it and still dance my own unique dance, you’ll want to discover your own moves as well.

But at a minimum, at the end of it all, I’ll have a record. Maybe something that somebody else would find worth reading, a roadmap to replicate what I’m creating by going full out. Maybe simply a tool to help Future Erica chase the next impossible goal with even more resilience and fearlessness. And maybe a timeless classic that women the world over go to when they’re ready to live their own Biggest Version Of Themselves.

#goals

Let’s go!