My Messy Entrepreniural Journey

Elisa A. Escalante/ LCSW/ 06-29-2023

I never want to be the person that harrasses or clickbaits people online. I don’t want to be the person to give an annoying sales pitch. I don’t want to be that cliche person that posts moons and stars in someone’s DM’s and promises them an enriching journey of life coaching if they just ‘buy my book’. I am an entrepreneur, and I do have things that I have created and/ or invested in that I sell. But I am not a sales person. This isn’t a story of me ‘working my way toward financial freedom’, i’m not even close. I cannot guarantee it will even happen. This is an honest story of my experiences so far as an entrepreneur, while still working a ‘9-5’ because… how else will I pay my bills? I find that most successful entrepeneurs only want to show off their destination, but they rarely share the messy journey. I find this not only disingenuious, but quite frustrating. It leads people to build unhealthy expectations regarding what it really takes to build or create something new, and to see it through year after year after year. It is so easy to give up. I have given up on some things, while other things I continue to pursue with a vengeance. I have had some hard lesson’s through the years, and those are the lesson’s I wish to share so that other’s don’t have to be in shock, maybe I can give people some golden nuggets of truth.

My experiences with Fighter and Gym management

This was purely on accident and unintentional, but it happened for a brief period of time. The pandemic of 2020 hit while I was living in Brooklyn and training at both a BJJ school, and with a Muay Thai team. Every gym closed down. Fighters were left desperate without a way to train or fight, and some of them were pro; their careers and income were on the line. While other people trained for their mental health, and desperately needed that outlet. I was living with my ex at the time in a building he worked as the superintendant for. So, we started by converting a small basement room into a gym. I used my first stimulus check to buy a nice wrestling mat along with some other workout equipment. Before we knew it, we were inviting our friends to train in a place that was judgement free. They started paying us voluntarily. We had a mini gym. My muay thai coach needed a place to train, we used the money from the “hotbox’ gym (we enjoyed smoking weed while training) to help rent some MMA trng space along with the coach. We then made what I considered to be the best ‘MMA team in Brooklyn’ (it only lasted a few months). But damn was this a fun/ interesting time. I realized from my ex and other fighters, that a lot of them needed help with contracts and paperwork in general. For example, I worked out the contract for the fighters and for the shared space. I did the paperwork leading up to my ex’s MMA fight. He then referred a friend to me. I helped his pro fighter friend get a fight in Florida. I even convinced the promoter to agree to pay for his flight! I was then ‘dumped’ as he ‘did not need a manager all of a sudden’, (after I already helped). OOPS! I Forgot to do a contract for that! Some people take your help and dump you right after, so they don’t have to pay you commission from their fight. Good to know! Also things got messy with the rented gym space. They tried to increase the price on us very suddenly while reducing our mat time hours, so we pulled out. I was relieved only because I also sensed a lot of hate. Some people that you train with… the moment you have ‘authority’ over them, they start to hate you and become very passive aggressive. I decided after all of this, nevermind, I do not want to be a fight manager.

My experiences as a published author with a publishing company

My dream was finally coming true! A dream I had since I was six years old. To publish a book. I had already written about 8 chapters when I decided to show it to a friend/ training partner of mine who worked in publishing. She immediately gravitated toward it; a book for military/ veterans that are suffering from PTSD. But not the typical book, a book from a therapist/ veteran that’s coming from an angle of personal experience, and sharing trauma stories, interventions, resources and compassion. I thoroughly scrubbed the publishing agreement. I am paranoid after all. When something feels too good to be true, it usually is. I did publish my first book and I have sold close to 300 copies at this point, so not a lot. Authors do not get a lot of commission on their own work. Sadly, what I have had to learn the hard way, is that the publisher, artist, editor and distributors all get paid before the author. (Despite the fact that there wouldn’t be a book without us) I published my first book in July of 2021, I still haven’t received a dime. I am not supposed to receive money until I reach 250 dollars worth of profit, I knew that already. But, what I came to learn the hard way is that if I do not sell enough, there’s potential that I will owe them money! Distribution fee’s are annual; At least with my publishing company they are, and they get directly taken out of my royalty earnings. (I was so close to 250 dollars of earnings but then they hit me with the 60 dollar distribution fee) So my decision then becomes to either keep the book in distribution and risk owing money if my sells remain stagnant, or pull my book out of distribution to get what little money I did make; but then never have my book distributed on the shelves and in the online stores again. Again, I’m not a sales woman and I am petrified of doing in person workshops or door to door sales, so it’s likely that by November, my first book could be out of distribution. 😦 (They won’t say it, but I believe this is how they ‘weed out’ the low selling authors.)

My experiences with self publishing and blogging

Given what I had to learn the hard way, it’s a good thing that I ‘self published’ my second book with a simple online platform called Ingram Spark. My first go around with Ingram was not pleasant. It was not as user friendly as they portrayed, and I accidently went with a free ISBN not understanding what that ‘actually meant’, I did not read the fine print. I accidently published an online ebook that was unedited and ‘did not belong to me’. Scratch that! Pretend it DID NOT happen. I then made a ‘second edition’ of my mental health quotes and poems book with added content and PURCHASED the ISBN’s this time, for full ownership. I was then able to edit and see a rough draft before I approved it for publishing. I actually ‘earn less’ on this book than I do my first book. As It’s a shorter and cheaper book and the company takes a lot of royalties. However, they pay me quarterly NO MATTER how much I make. No silly 250 dollar rule! So I have already received some payments for my second book, published in November of 2022. It’s often usually just 20 dollars or less in a 3 month period! Not much at all, but it did not cost much to create this book either. And, instead of hiring a professional editor, I edited this one myself. Just some simple spellcheck as this book did not require near the edits that my first book did. This is why they say, self publish. It all makes sense to me now, I was just clueless when I was a new author and did not believe I had the skills to do it myself. I also self publish on this very blog. I would say the most disheartening thing about being a published and very active writer, is that it reminds you of how little people care about reading these days. I simply cannot compete with video content and online porn. I work hard toward my writing craft and get next to nothing in return. The only thing that makes it worth it? I love to write. That’s it.

My experiences as a Social Media ‘influencer’ and Podcast panelist

Since I cannot handle in person sells, I really took to social media and podcasting as my main strategy for advertising my books. I do have an author website that a friend was kind enough to build for me. I have another good friend who continues to help build it for me when changes need to be made. On my website are links to my books, blog and glamping site (which you will read more about below). This very blog also links to my website and is linked to my Amazon author account! I have writer pages on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. I also have closed facebook groups to help people, and very occassionally, self promote. These groups include ShortygirlMMA, for short women that train in martial arts. Still I roll, a group for people that train BJJ and suffer from mental health conditions. And a Veteran transition support group page on FB & Instagram; exclusively for Veterans only. You may be wondering what any of this has to do with selling my books. But what I have learned over time is that in order to encourage people to buy things, it’s best that they know who they are buying it from. Therefore, you must build a ‘social media personality’ and presence. Whether you feel like it or not, it’s the way of the world now. With podcasts, I generally get invited to podcasts where the niche is either for: veterans, authors and/ or mental health in general. I still get extreme stage fright, even when it’s just through a screen. I always remind myself that the information I am sharing with people can be of some use. I am generally doing my best to help people, so then it’s worth pushing myself through the fear of judgement. What’s the hiccups in this realm? Well, many people will waste your time. Many will interview you and not schedule you for a podcast after all. Many will podcast you, but then never publish it. You have to be ready for dissapointment always.

My experiences as a Glamping Host

And finally, my most recent endeavor has been as a glamping host. This is the most recent as I have only been a home owner for a little over a year. I’ve been told investing in property is one of the best things we can do. I couldn’t agree more. Why glamping? Well it was the cheaper option, and after all, I am not made of money. My current boyfriend and me had the original idea of converting a shed into a tiny home, but with rising costs, we knew it would be insanely expensive to get the lumber and everything else. I bought a teepee bell tent instead. My boyfriend has a background in construction, janitorial, repair work, carpentry, and AirBnB cleaning! Perfect skills to build our vision! Meanwhile, I am the investor, but without the building skills. Teamwork is everything. He built an incredible platform with pallets & plywood so that the tent does not get soaked; luckily a flood warned us of this in advance; so we did not just set the tent in the dirt. He built an outhouse near the platform and brought in an outdoor shower, while I purchased an RV compost toilet/ sink combo. Furnishing it was practically free as we had many things from him moving in with me. I bought whatever else was needed; carpets, tent lighting, outdoor solar lights, bedding, new towels. The first dissapointment was our little wood stove with a chimney, the desert wind kept destroying it. We gave up on it and settled with a space heater and back up propane heaters. We soon learned that our guests cause a lot of wear and tear, and the amount of money we were getting was not close to what we should earn considering both the prep time and time to fix damages; tent tears/ messes. Sadly by glamper # 8, the tent was torn beyond repair. We tried, and then the wind reopened the tear. We also felt that the anxiety of ‘whether or not the tent will hold up through extreme desert weather is just not worth it. So, I am investing more after all. With a hardened structure for glamping! My stepmom actually came up with an amazing idea that’s a bit more pricy vs a tent, but not as pricy as getting a tiny house or cabin. We put up a gazebo! And we will be taking the time to use our creative minds to convert it into a shack or cabin. My glamping business has generated the most money out of anything I have created so far. I have hope one day, that it will be profitable!