The 99 Authors Project – Season 6 – Episode 12 with Cheryl Ginnings29 min read

Bryan Hyde
Welcome to the Janine Bolon show, where we share tips from around the globe. As we guide practical people with their finances using money tips, increase their incomes through side businesses, and maintain their sanity by staying in their creative zone.

Janine Bolon
Hello and good day, Janine Bolon here, and I want to say thank you for joining our show. We are the ones that bring you quality content on saving your time, saving your money, saving your knowledge, and most importantly, staying sane in this topsy turvy world of ours. This is Janine Bolon Show and it’s a syndicated program of four podcast programs that were combined in October of 2021. We had the Three Minute Money Tips, The Thriving Solopreneur, The Writers Hour Creative Conversations and The Practical Mystic Show were all running since 2017, we’ve produced over 300 episodes. And today, we have an author that we are spotlighting who also helped contribute to our book, The 99 Authors Project. And so today we have with this Cheryl Ginnings. And what I have to say about this woman is how she has been a friend of me long before we were able to get on to do this podcast. Also, she’s the author of the book, It Takes Courage to be a Caregiver. So when we talk about staying sane in a topsy turvy world, this is the woman you really want to connect with and talk to, because she has a lot of systems in place when it talks about being courageous, being your courageous, strong self as you’re being a caregiver. So Cheryl, thank you so much for being with us on the show today.

Cheryl Ginnings
Oh, I’m so happy to be here with you.

Janine Bolon
It is always so much fun. We met through LinkedIn, and Cheryl did a article on me. And that’s where we connected and we’ve been in each other’s lives almost every week since then, because of the amount of support we like to give each other. Mainly because baby boomers are the generation that we have a common experience. We had three TV channels; we are used to certain types of movies and that kind of thing. And also, we were the beginning of what was called the sandwich generation where we were also raising children while we were taking care of our elderly parents and many baby boomers got caught into that sandwich. So thank you for writing your book, on the courage that it takes to do that sort of thing to still be raising children and taking care of elderly parents. So tell us a little bit about why you wrote this book. What’s your story? Why did you even decide to do that?

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, it started with a phone call that I got from New York. And they asked me if I would be a radio host, and have a program and I thought, oh, how did you find me? And they said, well don’t you know, when you write things on social media, we can read what you write. And I never thought about that. So anyway, I ended up doing a radio program live every week. And I absolutely loved interviewing people. And I interviewed about 150 caregivers. And my two questions were what gave you the courage to do the caregiving? And secondly, what lesson did you learn, we need to teach younger people coming behind us because we’ve had to plow the roads down, so to say, to learn how to do this, because a lot of our parents didn’t, their parents didn’t live long enough for them to care for them.

Cheryl Ginnings
So with a longer lifespan of our parents, you know, we have more years that we’re taking care of them. And so after I got all these wonderful people and all their great ideas, I thought, You know what, I’m gonna put this in a book and just share tips and answers in it to cover from having special needs children all the way to caring for your parents. And some of the things that are in there are just, to me, they’re amazing answers that people gave me. And that’s what made me decide to write this book.

Janine Bolon
Isn’t that amazing? When you start talking to what I call the unsung hero, you know, they’re a hero to certain people in their lives, but you don’t expect to ever see them on the news media or the big channels because they’re not making what some people consider to be a huge impact. But like Mother Teresa used to say, she was like, yeah, but you’re making a huge impact in these three people’s lives. Or these two people’s lives like you are their hero. They couldn’t be who they were, if it weren’t for you tending to their needs, because they are unable to fend for themselves. So thank you for taking time to write about these unsung heroes. They’re amazing. So have you always considered yourself an author? Were you able to call yourself an author?

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, I did start writing probably about 50 years ago, I had my first article published in a little magazine back about 1975. You know, that’s a lifetime ago, it seems like, but all through the years, you know, I would contribute to something and then when I went back to college, after I’d had a son that and then my health broke down, I thought, I think I’d like to finish my degree and I went back to get it in communications. And about that time, an article that I had been asked to write, was published. And it had been five years, I decided, oh, man, they hated what I wrote. Nobody ever published it. But when I did, it was kind of like, it gave me the courage to keep going and do more. I took that article to the school and showed it to the person over my degree. And he said, okay, I want you to do a video about why communication breaks down and families that have special needs. And I thought, whoa, wait a minute, I’m not a video person. That made me do something that was the hardest thing I ever did, but the best thing ever did. Because he gave me a student to do the filming. We interviewed so many people, I had 28 hours of interviews. So I go in real happy with the 28 hours and he goes, come here, let me show you something. And he showed me an editing machine and said, okay, I want this to be 28 and a half minutes. So I worked on that. And when I got finished, it was shown on television and two universities used it in their special education department.

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, that has been kind of the fire that started me off and on throughout my years, just going back to try to help other people. But writing is a big part of that. And so I’ve written articles that have been used on the internet. And I’m always open to writing. And I’ve been in 16 other books with people. And that’s really the first one I was in with other people was one that just kind of gave me that boost. And you know, it’s funny to me. I was at a meeting, a conference just a few months before that and they were talking to us about how important our mindset is, we need to say things instead of, oh, I wish or when this or whatever, to start saying I am. And then they said, okay, you have three minutes, write down as many I am statements as you can. Well, boy did I write, and I covered my cards, and then I raised my hand. I stood in front of about 3,000 people and I started reading. And some of the things I said was, I am an international, bestselling author. I’m an international speaker. And you know what, within about six months, I was the international bestselling author. And then shortly after that, I got to be an international speaker. So we never know, sometimes some of the hardest things in life are the very things that give us the courage and the boost to go on and do other things that we never thought we were going to do. So that’s me.

Janine Bolon
Yeah, exactly. It would, if you had ever been taken aside, set, oh, and by the way, in two years, you’re going to be standing in front of 3,000 people reading your I am statements. Now number one, you would have thought the person was Zulu nut job, because you’re like, I don’t, I’m sorry, that’s not. That’s not me. That’s not who I am. That’s not where I am. And yet at the same time, I’m sitting here listening to the story. And you’re not the first author that’s told me that I am statements have really transformed how they have not only lived their life, but the type of opportunities that have come to them because of those statements. And so it’s very powerful to write those things down. And most authors know that. But they’re so busy writing content or creating a book they forget to build their life around their craft. Isn’t that amazing?

Cheryl Ginnings
Yes. And you know, the funny thing is, here, I’ve written all these things. And then I started taking copywriting classes about four years ago. And now I’m certified as a copywriter to do different kinds of, you know, writing, including, you know, emails and stuff. But I realized that as I was writing, there’s so much to editing and trying to eliminate the wordiness for me, because I could talk, and you might hear a lot of things you didn’t care to hear about. But you know, it’s a difficult thing when you get ready to put it in a book form, because you don’t want to have all those extra words in there. So I have enjoyed learning how to write better since I’ve been published. So that’s something for people to think about, you know that those classes are out there. And even though they’ve cost me quite a bit to do them, there are some things that are free that would encourage people to get on the path of starting to write and learn a few things that would make it easier for them starting than it was for us.

Janine Bolon
Exactly, and it’s like any other craft or art form, and we just happen to be wordsmiths as authors we use words we use language, but there is always the necessity to learn more, like you’re never done. It’s like medicine or any other thing that we call an art, you know, you’re always learning something new. And that’s why I love the medium so much is there’s always new and different ways to present things. So well talk to us a little bit about your book, It Takes Courage to be a Caregiver. Talk to us a little bit about the book marketing process. And what surprised you most about publishing that book relative to the others?

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, when it’s your own book, I did have a publisher, but when I got my book back the first time, and it was marked up everywhere, and I was like, whoa, wait a minute, I thought I did a better job of editing.

Cheryl Ginnings
And then I guess the process of going through, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I had no idea. I mean, you think you’re, you know what you’re doing when you start writing a book, and you think it’s gonna be pretty easy. And you write this book, and oh, my goodness, you can just write your heart out. But that doesn’t mean people care. You know, we do it because we love it and because we are interested in sharing a message. And we know people need the message. But that doesn’t mean they know they need the message.

Cheryl Ginnings
That was part of my learning experience, you know, trying to figure out what are the steps that are involved, and I didn’t have anybody really, yes, I had that publisher, but they were also not the ones that are high dollar that take your hand and do everything for you, they help you do what you’re gonna do. And it was a lot different than what I ever thought it was going to be to write a book, but it was a learning process. And I appreciate it. You know, I appreciate the learning, the hard times, because the hard times are where you learn the most. It didn’t when I did a great job. And everybody said, oh, good job, you go away thinking, oh, I’m good at that.

Janine Bolon
And then along comes this book. So tell us a little bit about what worked best for you when it came to selling your books?

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, one of the things that I did first was, I just thought people would invite you to do a, you know, book signing. But I did have a couple of people that let me do it at their little shops, but I don’t live in a big town. So, you know, only a handful of people came to even. And it was people that knew me, you know, they came to support me. And that was fun, I’ve really appreciated and I remember those people, you know, for coming and supporting me, but not knowing where to start in marketing and not knowing the process and trying to market. Because I didn’t think about that part of it. I just thought it happened. You know, I’m like a lot of people I’ve been reading about with some of the people that have written with you that you just assume that when you get your book finished that it’s going to be easy, because people are gonna want to know what, what did Cheryl write about?

Cheryl Ginnings
And what’s so hard about caregiving?

Janine Bolon
I know, right? You just think that you’ve put you know, your heart and soul into your work. And so you just think people will pick up on that, you have no concept because you’re an author, you’re a writer, in your case, you’re a communication specialist, you’re not a marketing agent. Right. So when it comes to marketing your own books, well tell us about something that you tried, that was just an epic failure when it came to marketing your book?

Cheryl Ginnings
Well, probably most of it was an epic failure. cause you didn’t know how to do it. And the only time I would find it worked was when I was speaking. And I would carry books with me, but even then, you didn’t really sell that many books, and you don’t make much money on them. I mean, you’re not doing it to get rich. Let me say that. And the people that you see that are big time authors, and they say, oh, you can have my book for the cost of shipping and everything. They’ve got a lot of people out there that are buying their book, and they’re gonna make plenty of money. And for people that are starting out like I did, it costs a lot to do it and you think you’re gonna make your money back pretty soon, you don’t.

Cheryl Ginnings
So you’re doing it for a different reason. And that’s what I guess was one of the biggest shocks of all was that you invest the money, but you don’t necessarily get that money back. And so be careful what you’re going to write about, make sure people want what you’re going to write about. But then, you know, not knowing how to market it was my big failure. It was truly harder than I thought it would be. You know, I posted it on, you know, my Facebook and I posted it different places, but that didn’t sell anything. I sold one book on Facebook with all the other people that had said this was great. Thank you, Cheryl.

Janine Bolon
Right, not seeing the conversion, that’s for sure. Well tell us a story that you’d like to tell on yourself that gets the most laughs from your audience.

Cheryl Ginnings
Okay. When I was much younger, and our son was small, he had never walked, our son has severe cerebral palsy. He requires total care to this day, he’s now 52. But when he was only about four years old, I thought, there’s got to be a way to help him learn to walk. And yet nothing was working. We had moved across country for therapists. Well, I got this bright idea that maybe we had one of those clotheslines in our yards. And I know young people don’t know what a clothesline is, but a clothesline was a permanent fixture in our yard. And it was really sturdy. So I thought, if I could get cables and anchors, and I could hook up all this stuff, and I took the mesh, you remember how you used to have lawn chairs that were mesh weaving?

Janine Bolon
Oh, yes,

Cheryl Ginnings
I took that to the shoe store, and I asked the guy, can you make me a little harness that I can fit over my son, and we can hook him up? And I got a helmet. And we did all this stuff and my father-in-law always said, he was supportive of me and he and he said, Smoochie I’ll pay for that. If you want to do it. Well, we didn’t have the money. And it cost $240. I remember that because it was huge for us to get all the cables and the anchors and everything. So anyway, when I got all of this setup, I put my son in there, and we were so happy, we were going to teach him how to walk by having him harnessed.

Cheryl Ginnings
First thing that happens is he turns upside down. He’s crying, and we’re just laughing because we’re trying to figure out, why didn’t that work? That should have worked, you know, and there were things that we tried. I never was afraid to try anything. You know, first thing I had tried was a tiny tricycle, first thing, tiniest tricycle you can have, because I thought if I could get him to learn to move his feet up and down, then that would work. Well, I got somebody to help me make a back on the on the tricycle and make foot pedals. And do things so that we could tie him in there so he would not fall out. Had a helmet, but then when we moved to this new place that had some therapy, they thought I was nuts. And they said, Cheryl, what are you doing? You know, because I was having to upgrade that tricycle and their people were helping me. But guess what, I got the last laugh. Because as soon as they saw what I was trying to do, they said, you know, that’s a pretty good idea. Let’s have him do that for our other students that they were working with. And now I have a social service group here in our town. And their main money deal that they raise is all about helping disabled people to have a tricycle. They call it an Amtryke. Amtryke, and it has to be made specifically for every child. So a therapist has to get involved and measure them in it. They even do it for adults that can’t walk. But that’s been fun. And that’s another funny thing that happened to because I was going to spend the day with my son. And all of a sudden, my friend said, Cheryl, I need you to come down here to the mall, because we’re going to have a trike race and I said, oh, I’m gonna be spending the time with my son. No, because you need this. You need to come down and help us because you have a son that doesn’t walk. So I went down there to the mall and waited around and here come these tricycles and you have to use your hands and your feet. So I’m sitting around and they give me a little tag that I wear, and I forgotten what the name of it was, but they gave us all names. Well, then I was one of the first ones. I got on there to ride and I thought, well, I’ll ride and I’ll leave and go see my son.

Cheryl Ginnings
I won. I raced against another realtor, and I was a realtor at the time. I raced against somebody that was more physically fit than I was, but I won. Somebody said, no, you have to stick around. Well, we had these six and a half feet and 6.7 feet, basketball players that came in to support it. We had the mayor; we had all these representatives and people coming in and so they had a lot of people to ride. So they said I had to wait. Well, the next time I had to race against a man, and I thought, well, he’ll beat me. He didn’t; I won again.

Cheryl Ginnings
They said now you have to wait longer. So I raced the third time against a woman again. And I won, again. So my little tricycle was getting pretty used by then with all of us big people riding our tiny trikes and it was beginning to skip a little bit, but I liked that tricycle. Well, the last time I had to ride it was a fireman and he had just won on that tricycle. And I said, I want that trike. And he said, no, you can’t have my trike.

Janine Bolon
This is the lucky trike.

Cheryl Ginnings
And here we are in the mall arguing like that. Not only was the newspaper there, so was the TV station. So we’re getting on our tricycles, we’re getting ready to go and all of a sudden, the TV guy behind the camera says, look at me, and he’s pointing like this. And so I look at him, but all of a sudden that bell rings, off I go, and I’m spinning wheels and I get going and I won. Four times in a row. So I was the winner that day.

Cheryl Ginnings
I walked back over to the cameraman, and I said, why did you tell me to look at you and he said, I knew you were gonna win. And then he said, no, the look on your face, you were so determined you were going to win. So that was one of my most fun things about helping people understand the importance of some of the equipment that we need for our kids that can’t walk and still can’t walk.

Cheryl Ginnings
But you know, it’s neat that we’re coming up with more ways to help them and that’s one of my passions is to inspire. Moms don’t give up, you might come up with the best idea for your child that anybody else can ever give you and I say that, Janine, because when I was young, I kept going in with my son to the doctor. And I would say he’s throwing it. No, Miss Ginnings, you’re just a new mother. You don’t understand. Well, the next week as in there, but he’s constantly. No, Miss Ginnings, you’re just a new mother, you don’t understand. I am so sick and tired of hearing those words. I said, I’m sitting in the corner this time, I am not going to even talk to that doctor. So I sit in the corner, my husband standing there with our baby up on the counter, and in walks a different doctor. And he looks at him and he says, I guess you know, he has a hernia? And I went, I just bawled. I said, no, I didn’t know anything is wrong. And he said, what do you mean? And I told him how I was treated with the other doctor, and he said, well change doctors. I said, well, I can’t do that I would see him when I walked in the office. And he said, so what? People change all the time; I had people leave me. He became one of our best friends and best supporters and he was the one that really helped us know, you know what, as doctors, we don’t really know much about cerebral palsy. They hardly knew what it was that I in fact, we didn’t know for 14 months. And in that time, our son cried night and day, and I about went over the edge with a baby I couldn’t comfort. And it was just we didn’t know until 14 months he was having seizures.

Janine Bolon
What year was this?

Cheryl Ginnings
He was born in 1970, so that was about 72.

Janine Bolon
Right?

Janine Bolon
I like to give a timestamp for people so that they understand at what time you were talking about that we’re going to need to move along on to the author’s project. And so you had these five tips that you wanted to give authors when it came to selling their books.

Cheryl Ginnings
Yes, and let me just say, Janine, I’ve learned a lot from you. And I have to thank you for that because in your media package, and then your author package that you went through, you told us we should have started a website to begin with, and I didn’t realize that. In fact, I thought, well, you don’t do anything til your book is published, wrong! You’ve got to start right away, and you want people to know what you’re doing, and start talking to them and nurturing those people, because that’s going to save you the most money. And I learned that from you, because I did not know it and I did not do it. So I did everything the hard way. And then the second thing you gave a tip from Stephen King, that was right, don’t edit while you’re doing it. And not everybody liked that comment. But that’s something I have a hard time doing. Because I correct as I go, you know, I say, oh, I miss typed. And so I’ll stop. But you’re saying just write. Just put those words out there, go back later and try to correct things because you’re gonna do some things wrong. And then also, while you’re doing that, keep telling your audience what you’re doing, as you’re going along, and ask them questions, get their input for some of the things and I thought, well, I have so much input. And I did, I had a lot of input from all the people I’d interviewed, but the people that I could have nurtured to buy the book, or internet process, hello! Good tip there. So ask them questions and then when you get your cover done, let them help you choose some of the the covers, you know, have more than one on there.

Cheryl Ginnings
And then also, be sure that you find JV partners, those partners that can help you promote that book are going to be invaluable. And those were things I didn’t know about while I had my first book written. So now I know, but those are things that I would do over. Okay?

Janine Bolon
That sounds fabulous. And thank you for honoring me by saying I’m the one that helps you with that. But you have to remember when you and I were writing, we didn’t have what we have now. And so you and I are authors that started off back before the 2000 era. And now that we’re in 20s.

Cheryl Ginnings
Book was just written about six years ago. And I didn’t know that. Let me just say this too, doctors still give bad information to parents, I’m talking to them all the time. And I want parents to know you are not to be put down by somebody who you think knows more than you do. You know more about your child. So don’t, the same things are happening now that I had happened to me and I am just amazed. That’s why I want to educate people, how to be a good parent, and how to become partners. And that’s part of what I do with all my writing is trying to encourage parents.

Janine Bolon
And so one of the things I wanted to reach back around for our authors was to let them know about JV partners. So in the case of It Takes Courage to be a Caregiver. And what Cheryl Ginnings has done with her work has been you partner with people who are going to help you sell your book. So the folks who were doing the trikes and all the promotion for that having her book available during that period of time when she’s running races, and stuff like that would be very helpful. And so we’re going to talk a little bit more about how you become profitable after you’re published. But first, we need to wrap up with Cheryl and what she has to offer you with that and what are some of the biggest rewards that you’ve received just being an author? I mean, other than winning the tricycle tournaments. I mean, I know that pretty high level right there.

Cheryl Ginnings
That was a biggie, though. Well, one of the things is it gave me a lot more confidence. I loved I found out that I loved interviewing, I found out that I love speaking, I found out that I love writing. And all of those things have made me such a big supporter of parents. And I think that a lot of that stemmed from getting published. And when people think, well, I can’t do that. Well, think again, there may be something that you know how to do, and other people are struggling with and what you’ve gone through can help them overcome the barriers that they’re facing. And so I think that’s where writing the book has helped me so much, because if I hadn’t done it, I still would be hiding behind something thinking I can’t do that.

Janine Bolon
Exactly.

Cheryl Ginnings
That is that is a very important lesson to learn.

Janine Bolon
Well done. Bravo, bravo, Cheryl. You’ve been through a lot. Look at where you are today. It’s amazing. So hey, people want to get to know this amazing woman. So where do we find you?

Cheryl Ginnings
Oh, good. Okay. If they will just go to my website that is so easy for people to read, to get to and it’s just Cheryl, c h e r y l dash coaches.com. My book is on there and I write blogs. I’ve got free gifts on there. If they need some help as a parent, or if they’re caring for their parents. There’s some information on that, too. But that’s how I tried to keep in touch with people and I am also teaching some classes. I’ve got one that I’ve just finished that will be on TV soon. So exciting times.

Janine Bolon
Very exciting times. Thanks so much for being with us today on the Janine Bolon Show. I appreciate you giving us your wisdom and your learning.

Cheryl Ginnings
Thanks.

Janine Bolon
So you’re welcome. And so this is Janine Bolon signing off with you today. And I just wanted to let you know that there is a way to be a profitable published author, I highly recommend that you go to author podcasting.com. And sign up for the latest book that I am writing, because one of the things that happened as I wrote the 99 Authors Project was finding out how difficult it was for authors to become publishable, well, not publishable, I’m sorry, profitable, there we go. After they publish their book, how do you make money? And so I then educate you on the ways that you sell the information and intellectual property that you have between your ears already, and how you go about getting a higher profit percentage than what you get on your books. We get so focused on our books, and it has such a low profit margin, that we want to give you an opportunity to make more money through these workshops, and I teach how to set up a 90-minute workshop so that your readers will want to learn from you.

Janine Bolon
So this is Janine Bolon signing off with you today. Go and visit our website at author podcasting.com forward slash workshops. And realize that those of us here at the eight gates that produces the Janine Bolon Show, we want to wish you a wonderful week and encourage you to get your message, your story or your knowledge out into the world and make it a better place just like these authors that we’ve been interviewing this past year. We’ll see you again next week. And until then, keep sharing what you know with others, keep shining that light that is you and don’t forget to go out today and do something just for yourself that’s plain fun. We’ll see you next week.

Bryan Hyde
Thank you for listening to the Janine Bolon show. Be sure to subscribe to our show notes by going to www.theJanineBolonshow.com, where you’ll find additional resources as well as the opportunity to sign up to receive our program in your email each week. Be sure to visit our sponsor at www.the8gates.com.