When you're looking outside, but the answer is within

I’m finally on the home stretch of getting my first book published.

Two days ago I was on a call with one of my mentors when I sought some encouragement around being ok with releasing the manuscript as it is now, to go for typesetting.

I know it can be a common thing with authors, feeling the need to constantly re-work the content and refine it.

I struggle with that too.

Even though I know the original content was good. Plus it has had two professional edits by my publisher. And several of my own.

My mentor, who‘s published 15 books, didn’t give me the advice I asked for.

Instead, he asked me a question.


“What is the purpose behind why you are publishing this book?”


That question elicited such a sudden intense and visceral response.

My eyes welled with tears, my heart pounded so strongly it felt like it was exploding out of my chest.


“I’m publishing it because I want what’s in it to change as many lives as possible….What I wrote about changed mine so much, and I want others to experience that too”.


Of course, there’s another aspect to it, and I know it will open doors to conversations in certain sectors where I want to have more impact through my work.

But honestly in in that moment that part really. didn’t. matter.

The reason I wrote “Marketing Me: Take Charge of Your Personal Brand and Make Your Mark on the World - is far beyond that.

Many inspiring and positive “marks” need to be “made”.

This book is for everyone who wants to do that.

I want people everywhere to read it, absorb and embrace the message, and apply it to their own life and business.

Because I know and have experienced the freedom of being on the other side of that.

My instinctive response to the provoking question put to me also highlighted to me the need to apply my own philosophy - which is trusting the intention that sits behind a piece of work will be transmitted and received at an energetic level (ironically one of the things I cover in the book!).

It was clear to all and sundry the conviction I have around this message and the desire to get it into the hands of as many people as possible.

So based on that….

YES, this book is ready to go back to the publisher after this week.


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But that wasn't the biggest thing I took away from that encounter. 

It was about how the answers and wisdom we need are so often within us. 

It’s amazing how the simple act of asking the question can elicit the very answer we are looking for, and creates the space for it to emerge.


What burning question do you have preoccupying your thoughts right now?

Can you leave room for the possibility that the answer is in you, just below the surface?

Like a delectable vanilla custard encased beneath the crackly sugar surface of a crème brûlée. Waiting to be tapped by a spoon and revealed.

Just like your "inner knowing" is waiting for the right question to break the crackly surface of conventional thinking - that has kept your intuition and the answers to your deepest questions concealed from your rational mind.

And enable that inherent part of you that’s ready to create more impact to surface.


So that once you “see”…

it paves the way for you to take action…

that takes you a step closer…

to that becoming a tangible reality in your life.

Pre-order my upcoming book Marketing Me
Apply to join the next 6-week Marketing Me LIVE Intensive
Book to speak at your upcoming conference or event

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Christian is a Marketing Futurist & Global Marketing Mentor who helps people do their marketing in a more human way. 

She is a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), Life Member and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute & AMI State Chair (Vic) and for 20 years was director of Braveda (Winner, Best Marketing Agency, Australian Marketing Excellence Awards).

Several years ago Nina saw the world of marketing shifting – this time as people became their own brands.  With this, she created a new business as a thought leader, combining her expertise in brand building with personal positioning, resulting in a breakthrough praxis known as Marketing Me™.

She has a knack for simplifying the complex which comes from being a hands-on mum to five children, and uses this to turn time-sucking activities into easy-to-follow systems and processes that make a lot of sense and get outcomes fast.

There are different ways to work with Nina based on your situation and organisation size - with all of them you'll see rapid transformation and tangible outcomes fast. Book a chat with Nina here.