Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Empowering Authenticity (Jimbo Paris Show #144 with Michelle Vandepas)
9 Plays1 year ago
In this episode, we have the privilege of introducing you to the remarkable Michelle Vandepas, a seasoned author, speaker, and coach who empowers individuals with her inspiring message and unwavering support. Michelle's journey is one of profound experience and insightful wisdom in the realms of publishing, online marketing, and living a purpose-driven life.
🔍 Meet Michelle, coach who empowers individuals with her inspiring message and unwavering support.
💡 Dive deep into her journey of profound experience and insightful wisdom in the realms of publishing, online marketing, and living a purpose-driven life.
📚 Explore how Michelle's dedication to her clients knows no bounds. Whether she's guiding them toward achieving their most authentic and successful lives or grounding herself in the beauty of the natural world, she embodies the spirit of empowerment and authenticity.
💬 Gain unique insights into her childhood from the picturesque mountains of Colorado, Michelle resides with her family, a vibrant community of 40 goldfish, and the occasional visit from mountain lions or bears (yes, you read that right!).
🎓 Learn how Michelle embodies the spirit of empowerment and authenticity.
Join us as we delve into Michelle Vandepas' inspiring journey and glean insights from her vast knowledge in the fields of publishing, online marketing, and purpose-driven living.
Connect with Michelle on her social media platforms to stay updated on her transformative work:
Michelle Vandepas on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Don't miss this episode filled with valuable insights and the chance to connect with an inspiring mentor who can help you unlock your true potential and lead a purposeful life.
#AuthenticEmpowerment #purposedrivenlife #OnlineMastery
#PurposefulEmpowerment #onlinesuccess #authenticliving
#AuthenticityUnleashed #purposefulliving #overcomingobstacles
Subscribe now and embark on your journey of growth and empowerment!
► The Jimbo Paris Show is also available in ROKU TV!◄
CONNECT WITH ME!
https://www.jimboparis.com
►Watch Our Previous Episodes HERE! ◄
https://bit.ly/jimboparisepisodesnippets
►GE Scientists’ Profile Series◄
https://bit.ly/jimboparis-gescientistsprofileseries
Check out my Ko-fi page and buy me a coffee today!
https://bit.ly/jimboparispassionproject
https://bit.ly/jimboparispassionproject
https://bit.ly/jimboparispassionproject
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Guest Michelle Vandepas
00:00:05
Speaker
Hi, I'm Jimbo Parris and you're listening to the Jimbo Parris Show. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. This is Jimbo Parris here again. And today we have Michelle Vandepas. She is the publisher at
00:00:27
Speaker
race point publishing and she essentially focuses on being an author, speaker, coach, motivational speaker and she's here to talk about her life and you know what she does and I kind of leave this a surprise but let's get started here and kind of figure out what she's about.
00:00:46
Speaker
Thanks so much. It's great to be here. Yeah, you know, the privilege is all month. So I think one thing is, can you tell me a bit about who you are, what you're about and what your message is?
Journey in Publishing and Industry Evolution
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's a lot. I'm happy to just dive right in. Well, it's early in the morning here.
00:01:05
Speaker
You got me up early this morning, so I'm actually working from home in my beautiful home in Colorado. And, you know, kind of a side interesting fact about me is I have 40 goldfish in my greenhouse that nurture here in Colorado Springs. I am a publisher. I've been in the publishing world about 25 years, mostly consulting.
00:01:27
Speaker
But I do own a traditional publishing company, do lots of consulting for self-published authors and people who want to start their own publishing company and so forth. So I've been in this world a long time and like most things, it's changing rapidly. Why did you get involved in publishing? Well, I wrote and published my first book 25 years ago. And, you know, back then it was called Vanity Publishing.
00:01:53
Speaker
still is in some circles. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, right? Sometimes we have a message. We have something we want to share. There's something in our heart that says, go ahead and get our workout into the world. And so 25 years ago, I was a marketing consultant for small businesses. And I published my first book about marketing. That's me. And, uh,
00:02:18
Speaker
I published my book about marketing and I learned all about how to do offset printing and how to publish. So that's how it started and over 25 years it's evolved. Since COVID I've published about 150 books and consulted with hundreds more people about making sure they get a book out that doesn't look self-published. Looks like it's professionally published, right? Because even self-published you can have a professionally published book if you do it correctly.
AI's Impact on Publishing: Benefits and Pitfalls
00:02:46
Speaker
What's been going on in your life that you didn't really expect or you found it was interesting or out of the ordinary?
00:02:54
Speaker
Oh my, well, there's so many things, right? Um, we just have to pay attention to what's going on around us every day with crazy weather. Right. I mean, in Colorado, we get sometimes softball size hail, like big hail that can destroy everything. And that's nothing to do with work, but it might put your internet out for a couple of days.
00:03:17
Speaker
I live in the mountains, my electric can go out, pull up my generator, right? Stuff that feels very, very rural. And all of those things affect your business, also affects your mindset. Because if you don't have the right mindset, you're like, woe is me, and feel victim to all of it. AI has certainly changed publishing, both for
00:03:40
Speaker
good and bad as most things in the world. And that came kind of as a surprise to me. I guess I knew it was coming and I've been watching. But the speed in which especially spam AI-ers, for those of you who don't know, you know, artificial intelligence, for people who used it to write really junk books and flood the market, astonishing to me.
00:04:04
Speaker
The publishing industry and Amazon and other online places are slowly getting those out of the marketplace and taking them down because most of them are just junk and you can tell they were written by AI. So don't do that. Anyone out there who wants to write a book and have heard that's the past path, it'll just get taken down. You know, that was pretty astonishing in which the speed that came. Personally, all of us have personal issues that come out
00:04:31
Speaker
every day and surprise us and people get sick and people around us die and get married and have babies and it changes our personal life pretty quickly right and that's just part of life and it's all about mindset I think and just
00:04:46
Speaker
you know, putting one foot in front of the the other every morning. So you mentioned the AI. Yeah. I think I want you to elaborate a bit more on what is something that the majority of people get wrong, especially with publishing. And I think you can incorporate that AI into the answer. I think people put too much confidence in it. So I was using AI yesterday for researching something. This is just an example. It's something due with astrology for a book.
00:05:16
Speaker
and I was researching it on AI for one of my authors. And luckily I know enough about the subject matter and it gave me a wrong answer. And I put in the AI, hey, that is wrong. I know this is wrong. Please double check your calculation here. And it came back and said, oh yeah, you are totally correct. This is the correct answer.
00:05:37
Speaker
And I think people assume that it's because the computer, because it's AI, it's correct all the time. And that is not true. Anything that's technical, astrology, math problems.
00:05:48
Speaker
anything like that, it can certainly get it wrong. And so you need to go back and double check. You have to remember AI is just pulling from other sources. It's not actually doing the work. It's pulling from other sources. The other thing is if you're writing a book, AI can be a great tool, right? GPT chat can be a great tool to help you come up with ideas, to help you research, but it does not replace your heart or humanness. And I can tell,
00:06:17
Speaker
Usually when I get AI writing or someone who said, here's my first draft manuscript, and I'll say, well, this feels like it doesn't have enough of your heart in it. It doesn't feel like it's got your personality in it. You can kind of tell when it feels very robotic, right? And if we want people to read it, which is the point or listen to it, it's got to have the author's heart in it. So I think we can use AI in a lot of ways.
00:06:47
Speaker
Right? I think we can use AI to help us come up with writing prompts, to give us new ideas, to help us give outlines for a book or interesting chapter headings. We can ask AI to rewrite our chapter headings and give us different ideas, but we're still in control here. We still have to take responsibility for our book and our writing and choose is that what we want to use or not, or are we going to
00:07:16
Speaker
just flat out use what AI tells us. I never think it's a good idea ever to do what someone else tells us. A computer or otherwise we need to be in control and make our own decisions. Just to elaborate further, are there other things people get involved?
Common Author Mistakes and Market Fit
00:07:33
Speaker
Generally most of the ties just stay out.
00:07:35
Speaker
Besides AI, yeah, people get book covers wrong all the time. And there's some things in publishing, but book covers is the number one. They'll send me a book cover and say, I'm in love with my book cover. This is what I want to use. And Michael, did you test it? Did you look and see if it's going to sell? Is it a book cover that stands out against others in the marketplace? It may be what you feel aligns with yourself internally.
00:08:02
Speaker
But someone picking up for the book for the first time, well, they know what the book's about. Does it say what genre the book is? Very often I'll get a nonfiction book and they'll send me a book cover that looks like it's a fiction romance cover or looks like it's a memoir cover. There are subliminal things that we don't realize as readers that when we look at a cover, it informs us what the book's about, even if
00:08:30
Speaker
The author didn't mean to give us that impression. So we do a lot of research on covers before we'll do a cover. And as part of my consulting, I teach people how to do that own research for themselves and have a look on Amazon and how to see what's selling right now in today's marketplace.
00:08:48
Speaker
And very often we change book covers. If I work with someone who is self-published or has worked with another publisher and they still own the rights to their book, we may change their book cover. Sometimes that can make a big difference. So you seem like you're very experienced as a publisher owning this publishing business.
Coaching Philosophy and Personal Development
00:09:06
Speaker
And I'm thinking here, how do you kind of use that experience of yours to influence others?
00:09:13
Speaker
I think, you know, one of the things that I like to say is everything is up and down. If you're an entrepreneur, if you're a podcaster, right? No matter what you do in life, everything's up and down. My experience really is also a part of just the fact I've lived a long time, right? And so you learn to not take things personally. Writing a book is a very personal experience. It's very intimate.
00:09:41
Speaker
is challenging for most people. And, you know, when I give feedback on a book, I try to give it with lots of love and good intention because it's not about the person. And as an author, you have to remember the feedback is not about you. It's about making your writing better. And so I think that goes across all areas of life.
00:10:02
Speaker
not to take things too personally. Remember that it's just about doing the best we can do in the moment. And if someone else is out there willing to help us to do better, listen and then make up your own mind. Always about you know what's best for you in your life. I believe in human consciousness and that we know what's best for us.
00:10:22
Speaker
So I think my wisdom is not just in publishing, it is really helping inspire people to live their best lives. And through my coaching, it may include a book or it may include something like doing a podcast and helping others get their message out. What about being a TEDx speaker and a coach?
Overcoming Challenges: TEDx and Growth Experiences
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, so I was a TEDx speaker coach for a number of years. And I like to tell the story that the night before I was supposed to go on stage, I was curled up in a ball and didn't want to go. And, you know, we all have our own fears and our own triggers and our own emotional wave, right, that we follow. And I'm like, I'm not doing this. I can't do this, right?
00:11:04
Speaker
It was like a posture syndrome and also I haven't prepared enough. All the things, right? All the things. And luckily my family was there and my sister pulled me out of my funk and basically pushed me on the stage. And could I do better today? Of course, I could do better most things today than I could do a decade ago. Most of us can. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely. And that's a lesson for myself moving forward, just push through.
00:11:33
Speaker
I know the things that I'm supposed to do or that are going to be good for me in life. And to do those and push through them, not everything's super easy. And I find that that helps other TEDx speakers too and other speakers in general when I'm doing speaking, coaching, or helping other people get confidence to be on stage. Things worthwhile aren't always easy. And if it's super easy, that's not pushing you to grow.
00:12:00
Speaker
internally. And not everybody wants to grow. Not everybody wants to push themselves. But if you're called to do something and it feels hard, it doesn't mean it's not yours to do. It just means you're being pushed a little to grow and to stretch. And if it feels like it's something you want to do, then I would invite everybody to step into that challenge with speaking or whatever it is. Speaking is different. Well, it's different and the same as writing a book.
00:12:29
Speaker
because you got to put yourself out there and show who you really are in order for other people to resonate with it. So if you woke up tomorrow with a habit, what would it be? A new habit. A new habit. So if I got to just wave my magic wand and say this was the habit I wish I had. Exactly. Wow. There's probably a few. I'd probably make myself better breakfast.
00:12:55
Speaker
to start the day. I might work out in the morning rather than in the afternoon. I might write more right in the mornings. I used to write every morning and that's a habit that has come and gone with me over the years. Sometimes I get back into it and sometimes I don't. You know, we always learn what we need to teach.
00:13:14
Speaker
and teach what we need to learn. And so if I'm holding the mirror up in front of myself, it would be right every morning. That's the thing I know that probably would move the needle the most for me. So other things in life that exhilarates you?
00:13:29
Speaker
I am still thrilled when we publish a new book. I'm like, it is such an endeavor. People don't realize there's like, you know, 132 steps to getting a book published. And most people skip most of them. And so they end up being okay books. But
00:13:46
Speaker
You know, I like to put out really great books, polished books that look great, that feel great. I'm always thrilled. I love to travel. So even though I've traveled, not the whole world, by any means, there's a lot of the world I have not. But every time I land in a new place or even a place I've been before and I get exhilarated, I'd love to travel, meet new people, step into new cultures.
00:14:11
Speaker
see what's out there in the world. And you think you do enough of it? Enough traveling. Yeah. The older I get, the more I realize that sometimes every day can't be an adrenaline rush and you got to go with what's going on around you. And so it may not be exhilarating, but I've got to find gratitude and joy in every day, even if I'm not having a really exciting day. Right. And it sounds so,
00:14:40
Speaker
kind of old fashioned and spiritual, but there's really something very grounding about you can't change all the circumstances around you. Like I said earlier, people get sick and die and get married and have babies and good things and bad things. And we have no control over all those things. I don't have control, you know, if the weather decides to drop hail on my garden this spring. And so, you know, rather than for me looking for all the exhilarating excitement I look for,
00:15:09
Speaker
Am I contented, happy? Am I doing my work in the world? Is my family happy and healthy? And have I done everything I can do for my community and my life to help those around me? And that is an exhilarating life.
00:15:24
Speaker
I think.
Finding Purpose and Integrating Creativity
00:15:25
Speaker
So speaking of exhilarating, how would you describe a passionate, driven and ambitious person? What would that look like? So, you know, there's a lot out there right now about hustle culture is dead. Right. And I don't know, I still feel like I hustle quite a bit, but I don't see that's a wrong thing for me. I've got things to do and people to help and a business to run.
00:15:51
Speaker
And so whether you call it hustling or call it something else, I think you have to have some purpose in the world. And do I wake up every day rearing to go? No, that would be unrealistic. You know, are there days I just want to go back to bed? Yeah. And I think finding some purpose helps you keep putting that foot in front of the other, helps you keep being passionate and driven in the world every day. And
00:16:20
Speaker
I've done a lot of work on purpose. I've written a book about purpose. I taught and coached other people through finding purpose. Purpose is not this, it is something you're born with, but it's also something you can choose. How it looks outwardly can change. What's internal doesn't change. So I have a drive to help other adults.
00:16:45
Speaker
Right? That doesn't change. I could do that in teaching or coaching. I could probably do that a million different ways to help other adults, right? To teach other adults. There's a million ways that that could look out in the world. But internally, that's sort of what I keep coming back to. Most people have an internal knowingness. They're drawn to animals. They're drawn to helping the planet.
00:17:09
Speaker
They know they just want to write and communicate. They want to express through music. Most people know something internally that feels aligned with purpose for them. But you can choose how to put that out in the world in a million different ways. Just because you feel drawn to music doesn't mean you have to make your living at music. Doesn't mean you have to go be a music teacher. You might just do music for yourself every morning for half an hour. And that's enough to keep you
00:17:39
Speaker
connected. Purpose and creativity and spirituality and your own intuition are all intertwined and so if you stay connected to any one of those things it will help you stay connected to the rest of those things. So creativity is a brilliant way to tune into your purpose and your own intuition. If you're
00:18:02
Speaker
can tune into your intuition that will open up new levels of creativity and so forth. They all interact with each other and that will keep you motivated in life generally and to get out of bed on those days when you don't really want to. And I'm not talking about clinical depression. I don't want to get hate mail. Don't throw me under the bus if you've got something else going on in your life, right? So go get help if that's you or if you have high anxiety, because I know there's a lot of that in the world right now.
00:18:31
Speaker
I'm talking about if you're looking for your next step to stay really actively involved with your own life. So I'm thinking here, how does your coaching program help you resonate to others, both your unique vision as well as your purpose?
Coaching Process: Identifying Fears and Growth
00:18:48
Speaker
So I take people through a process. There's a number of things. Everybody's different, right? So.
00:18:55
Speaker
I do do group programs, but I, even in my group programs, I like to really get to know individuals and everybody's a little bit different. First thing we really look at is what is one thing that you want to do that you've never been able to do or that you're a little scared to do. We kind of look at some of those things. I mean, I was talking to my daughter yesterday. I've never driven a forklift or used a chainsaw. I'm not really drawn to do either of those things.
00:19:24
Speaker
I could learn to do them, but it's probably not in my life purpose because I'm not scared about doing them. I don't feel like I need to do them. I don't feel drawn to do them. If I need to learn how to do it, I will. I'll go learn how to do it, right? But when you say something to me like, do I want to get up on the stage in front of 5,000 people next week? I'm like, there's some fear there. I know that's going to stretch me. I know that even though I've done that before, it's still going to be a
00:19:54
Speaker
a moment for me. And so those are the kinds of things we're looking for. Something there's a little fears, a little stretch on my go, well, maybe someday I'll do that, but not today. So we look for those clues. I also look for clues about, you know, what, what do you like to do? I know that sounds so cliche, but really like, what do you like to do? Because that those are all clues for helping you get in touch with it. And you've got to be willing to try new things without any
00:20:24
Speaker
expectation of the outcome. Like if you want to paint, just paint. It doesn't mean you have to be a painter. It doesn't mean you have to ever sell your work. It doesn't mean anyone ever has to see your work. Paint for the joy of painting. You want to dance, dance. You want to write, write. There's a lot of reasons to do things just for your own internal soul that have nothing to do with making a living or being a good person in the world.
00:20:49
Speaker
So you're a publisher, you're a business consultant, you do all these different things, and you're also publishing a book or it's in the process of being published. Can you talk about all of those things? Yeah, with my authors you mean? Yes. Yeah, it depends what comes up. We might talk about those things. We have author calls every week. So if you're one of our authors, you can come into an author call. We'll talk about those things.
00:21:19
Speaker
We have virtual workshop days where you can come in and we'll help you with your creativity. So you can choose to participate in all these things we offer our authors. You know, the more support we can give our authors, the better they do, better books they write, more books they'll sell. And it depends if you just want to do coaching with me or if you're writing a book. So depends what program you're in. But yeah, absolutely.
00:21:44
Speaker
So compared to other coaches, what makes you stand out among the mass majority? Well, as I said earlier, we teach what we need to learn and we learn what we need to teach. And that's part of what I teach is how do you stand out from all the noise. And I'm always looking for that. I think some of my unique personal gifts are that I can see the brilliance and other people I can help
00:22:11
Speaker
you or anyone really find the gold nuggets inside of you. And so that's one of my gifts. I think just the fact that I have a lot of experience in publishing and coaching in general, right? I've been doing it longer than most people. And so I have worked with all kinds of people. I think that helps.
00:22:31
Speaker
The fact that I use my own intuition a lot and I ask other people to use their intuition about what's the right next step for them is probably a little bit different than what other people do. But ultimately choosing your coach or choosing your publisher or working with somebody is a pretty personal decision and you just have to resonate. You just have to be like, is this someone I trust? Is this someone who gets me? And it goes both ways. I have to get the author. I have to feel like, yeah,
00:23:01
Speaker
We can work together. This is cool. I get you, right? I have to be able to see them as well. So I don't think it's a big, bright, shiny object that sets me apart. I think it's just an energy. We get each other. Is there any piece of advice here you could tell to anyone before we let you off
Pursuing Passions: The Power of Persistent Nudges
00:23:20
Speaker
here? If it's in your heart and you keep getting this nudge that you want to write a book, you want to be on stage, you want to start a blog, you want to travel to Europe,
00:23:31
Speaker
whatever it is, if there's a nudge that keeps at you, it means it's yours to do, right? Like I said, I had this thought yesterday, wow, I've never used a chainsaw because I saw someone using it, but it's not a nudge that keeps coming back to me. If I need to learn someday, I'll go figure out how to do it, right? But if there's something that keeps coming into your heart, someday I got to write a book. Someday I got to write a book. Don't wait for someday.
00:23:56
Speaker
It's probably now, it's a nudge that you can act upon. And don't worry about imposter syndrome, or you don't know what you're gonna write or speak about, or you're not good enough. None of that matters. If you're getting that nudge to your heart, then it's yours to do. Excellent. All right. Well, thank you, Mrs. Van DePass. This was an excellent, excellent interview. And I also want to thank you all for watching this show. I'll see you all next time. Thank you. It was a pleasure and an honor.
00:24:25
Speaker
I'm currently working on a passion project that I'm really excited about, but I need your help to bring it to life. We'll be launching soon our very own Jimbo Paris Academy, and this is going to be about aspiring creators and creating concepts. Thank you for your support. I'm sharing free bonus content with supporters, so let's make some amazing content together.
00:24:50
Speaker
our affiliate partner, Lifework Systems, focused on helping create a better collegial environment, looking at the mental health of business workers, business employees, and overall bringing the business up. Thank you for listening to the Jimbo Parish.