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There are two kinds of books we write.

The Capstone, and the Quest.

I’m excited to share with you about my Quest, now that my manuscript is with the editor, with the full first draft completed. Omg!

A Capstone book is a culmination.

It’s what you write after your frameworks are clear, the ideas tested, the point of view fully formed.

You’ve done the work—in your business, with your clients, in your programs.

You’ve seen the patterns, refined the process, and now you’re putting it all down in one place.

A Capstone book is a celebration, a solidification of what you already know.

These books often take 3-6 months of focused effort to write, if you have your research in place.

But then there are Quest books.

A Quest book doesn’t start with clarity. It starts with a question.

For me, that question was:

Why is so much business advice garbage at worst and questionable at best—and why doesn’t it work for the kind of business I want to run?

That question pulled me into a multi-year reckoning.

Why did the things I was being taught—by people who claimed to share my values—fall apart the moment I tried to apply them?

Why didn’t their strategies work for my kind of business, the one I actually wanted to build?

Why were all of the books and entrepreneur programs geared towards scaling a product or SaaS business?

That question sparked the journey, which has guided my business for the past two years. (Like, exactly. The date I started my book’s Google Doc was April 6, 2023. The day I turned it into the editor? April 6, 2025.)

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At first, I was angry.

Angry that I’d trusted teachers who turned out to be selling something that no longer matched the current market context.

Angry that what was being marketed as ethical or liberatory often relied on the same extractive strategies—just dressed up in different language.

Angry that I saw others being duped into buying programs I knew weren’t a fit for their business model or business stage.

Angry that there was so little honest business education that spoke to the realities of building a values-led, expertise-based business that wasn’t built to scale like a startup.

And I poured that into writing: newsletters, classes, copywriting, and these chapters.

When finalizing my draft, I went back to an early chapter of the book, written when I was still angry, only to see how my voice has changed.

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But eventually, the anger gave way to curiosity.

If I didn’t want to follow their path, what steps were right for my business?

What business models aligned with how I wanted to deliver, hire, sell, grow, rest, and what did that mean when I applied those insights to my clients’ businesses?

How would I reconcile the values, delivery model, marketing style, profit and time management, and hiring choices for experts-turned-entrepreneurs, across all models?

I started building my perspective, my guidebook.

I read across disciplines. I studied other businesses, tested approaches, worked ideas into client sessions and group programs.

I took what felt true and discarded what didn’t and began to form patterns of new pathways.

And slowly, over months and years, I started to see the shape of something new.

The writing came in stages.

First the anger. Then the curiosity. Only then came the clarity.

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And clarity took the longest.

I had to distill what I’d been teaching.

Turn scattered insights into frameworks, tools, questions, and language that could be used by others.

I had to test them, teach them, teach them again.

And then I had to complete writing the whole thing, no missing fragments or sections left with just a bunch of bullets.

I had to build the plane while flying it—and document the build in real time.

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Only then—at the very end—did it start to feel like a Capstone.

But this book? It began as a Quest.

So if you’re wanting to write a book, or create long-lasting intellectual property ask yourself:

Is it a Capstone or a Quest?

If it’s a Capstone, you know the material. You’re just ready to gather it.

But if it’s a Quest, the only way out is through.

• Start with the question.
• Let the anger fuel your curiosity.
• Let the curiosity pull you toward clarity.
• And trust that the writing will happen as you go.

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It won’t be fast. It won’t be linear.

But it will change you, as it profoundly did for me.

And in time, it might just change your readers too.

I can’t wait to share my book with you in a few months.

What are you working on building, and how can I celebrate with you?

NEW EPISODES

What's "enough" for you? Exploring the Zone of Enoughness In this episode, Meg and I go even deeper on my framework for the “Zone of Enoughness”—a way to reimagine business growth not as endless expansion, but as aligned sustainability. We talk about letting go of business models that don't fit, the very real trade-offs of growth, and why sufficiency might be more radical than abundance. You’ll hear my grapples with enoughness in the face of perimenopause and my corporate training, and both of us discussing the financial and lifestyle decisions we’ve each made and in each season. Listen to the Pod

Networking without being pushy or feeling "salesy" If you struggle with networking, never knowing what to say and not wanting to just give free advice, this episode is for you. The mindset shift that helped me The four types of conversations How being interested (in them) is the first step Watch the Video

UPCOMING EVENTS

Member Only: Sales Systems Tending Training April 21, 1-2pm ET Tending to your sales systems—your conversations, your prospects, your referral partners and network—is a critical part of relationship-based sales. In this members-only training, I'll do a live demo of how I tend to my sales systems, introduce the "Sales Sacred Hour" process, and answer your questions about setup. Register for the Event

April's Dialogue: Know Your Vitals April 23, 12 pm ET There's a lot of metrics you could track in your business financials. But what are your key business health vital metrics - the most essential indicators you should track for a healthy, profitable business? Join finance expert Luisa Alberto with People First Finance and learn your key vital health metrics. Register for the Free Dialogue