Published & Black Podcast
Welcome to the Published + Black Podcast, where the worlds of self-publishing, business, and life converge. I'm Tiffany A Green-Hood, your host, Publisher, Author, Coach, and Design Strategist. Join me each week as we delve into the hidden stories behind self-publishing triumphs and the intricate world of publishing.
Together, we'll illuminate the brilliance of black authors, exploring their captivating narratives and honoring their achievements. Our journey doesn't stop there – we'll delve into the art of crafting impactful author brands that extend beyond books and messages.
Prepare to dive into profound discussions, gain invaluable insights, and unlock the secrets of navigating the ever-evolving landscape of self-publishing, while touching on crucial aspects of both business and life. Whether you're a wordsmith, an entrepreneur, or simply in pursuit of inspiration, the Published + Black Podcast is your empowerment destination. Tune in, learn, and embrace the journey with me, your host, Tiffany. 🎧📚
Published & Black Podcast
Embracing 50: Legacy, Focus, and Publishing Black (Rejoice 102)
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Tiffany celebrates turning 50 and shares powerful reflections on staying focused, building a legacy, and pursuing dreams without procrastination.
• Announcement of a publishing workshop in Michigan City, Indiana on June 28th, 2025
• Introduction of Publishing Black Magazine's second quarter issue launching this week
• Reminder to stop putting personal dreams on hold while helping everyone else
• Discussion of the importance of pivoting and removing things that no longer serve you
• Announcement of the Published in Black Chamber of Commerce to address barriers facing Black authors
• Emphasis on proper book registration with ISBN numbers and the Library of Congress
• Recommendations for creating digital products to replace time-intensive business activities
If you'd like to attend the publishing workshop or learn more about the Published in Black Chamber of Commerce, visit publishwithtiffany.com or email hello@publishedinblackchamber.org.
Stay tuned for Published in Black, the go-to radio show for black authors, creatives and entrepreneurs ready to turn their stories into success. Hosted by publishing expert and brand strategist, Tiffany A Greenhood, Each show will deliver real talk, powerful strategies and insider knowledge on self-publishing, brand building, wealth creation and making an impact with your voice. Whether you're writing your first book, growing your business or scaling or scaling your influence, published in black will equip you with the tools, inspiration and unapologetic confidence to thrive. Listen now and be informed hello, hey, I'm back, y'all.
Speaker 2:Today is the day I am back. I'm your host, tiffany A Greenhood. This is Publishing Black Radio. So how are you all doing? This is June, so I want to start off wishing myself an amazing birthday.
Speaker 2:My birthday was Saturday, june 14th, and it was amazing. Um, you know, people kept asking me what are you doing, what are you doing, what you gonna do, what you gonna do? And I really didn't have anything specific I wanted to do per se. You know, the normal go out to eat. You know, celebrate, um, but I turned 50. So it was just um, I think for me it was just a matter of gratitude, just being thankful for making it to 50. In good health, you know, in good spirits, and, you know, not in the hospital and not, you know, just really going through life the hard way. So so, yeah, so that's that's pretty much what I want to talk about today. That goes right into our focus for today.
Speaker 2:Today, I want to talk about um 50 and focused. 50, focused and fabulous. Okay so, um, and I also want to remind you all that I have an event coming up. It is a publishing workshop. Okay, so, for those of you in the Chicago already in the Chicago area. This is an in-person event and it will be taking place in Michigan city, indiana, June 28th, june 28th 2025. Okay, so that is a Saturday and it's going to be in Michigan City, which is about 20 minutes from the Hammond area. It's not far, maybe 30 to 45 minutes if you're coming from Chicago in the city.
Speaker 2:But listen, if you are, if you haven't been listening, or this is your first time, or you are in the middle of a book project and you stuck and you just need some inspiration. If you've already published a book I don't care if it was 10, 15, 20 years ago you need to be in the room. We will be talking about the, not just the process of publishing, but what to do after it gets published. Ok, let's be real, that's where y'all get stuck in. Ok, after it's published, you really don't know what to do after it gets published. Okay, let's be real, that's where y'all get stuck at. Okay, after it's published, you really don't know what to do. And so, um, y'all know, I'm gonna bring it, I'm gonna drop it, I'm going to coach, teach, fuss, all of that, but at the end of the day, you're going to know exactly where to go from. Wherever you are in your project, you'll know where to go from there. Okay, and that includes the resources and all that good stuff.
Speaker 2:So, um, if you would like to register to attend, it is on Eventbrite. But you can go to my link published with tiffanycom and it's right at the top. You just click on that. It's going to take you to the website and all that and get registered. Get registered. We only have what? 10 days? Tomorrow It'll be 10 days to the event.
Speaker 2:So I want to see you guys in the room because I've gotten phone calls here. I get off air a lot of times on Tuesdays and you all are calling the station. I get off air a lot of times on Tuesdays and you all are calling the station and you know you're so excited about the information and want assistance with your project. That would be the perfect time to be able to not just meet me in person, but to get in the room and take notes and learn and get your answers and your resources. Okay, also, we want to talk about publishing black magazine. I will be launching the second quarter issue this week, so look forward to that.
Speaker 2:If you have not checked out publishing black magazine, you can go to publishingblackmagazinecom and you can see our january issue and in, I think when you click on the link it'll take you to because you'll see the digital. It'll take you to the site where you can see all of our past issues. But Publishing Black Magazine is where I feature self-published black authors. Ok, so you and the content, the content and the articles that are in that magazine you will not find anywhere else. Ok, so you definitely want to go check that out. And then don't forget to go to publish with Tiffanycom. Join the email list If you want to stay on the up and up of what we live on TikTok too.
Speaker 2:If you are, you have access to internet. We are live on TikTok at Black Writer Space, okay, so you can tap into that or, of course, listen in on rejoice102.com. But you want to go to publishwithtiffanycom. You want to look in at the digital products that I have on there available. It's so much on there. Yes, that's where you go to join the email list. Yes, that's where you can go to sign up for the event, but you can also shop there.
Speaker 2:I have an ebook that I just put up, maybe about two weeks ago um decrees for authors. I have an e-book that I just put up, maybe about two weeks ago Decrees for authors. I don't know if you were listening when I talked about the different decrees and the different words and things you can speak over yourself during the day and throughout the week to just keep you encouraged and inspired. So I'm going to be doing a lot of talking on how to stay focused today. I don't really have any specific topic, as far as you know, going deep into the publishing. I really just want to talk about staying focused. Ok, so check out, publish with Tiffany dot com, and then let's just jump right in. So I want to just kind of reflect on my 50 years. Ok, and life will give you some hits. Let's just, you know, say that life will definitely give you some hits.
Speaker 2:But I'm going to tell you, when it came to me, fulfilling my goals and my dreams because that's really what I want to remind you of today is not to let them go by the wayside. You know, we put stuff aside when it comes to us A lot of times. We put stuff aside and we sit it to the side and we never get back to it. We got to stop doing that, you know. I know a lot of us were raised that you know it's better to put others before you. Stop doing that, stop doing that. You only live one time when you leave up out of here. It's only one, it's only space for one body. In that body bag period. Nobody's going with you, none of your stuff can go with you or anything. So we want to take time to number one just be grateful and appreciative that you're not. If you are not sick, you're not in the hospital. Somebody, somebody's machine got cut off this morning. Somebody's machine got cut off five seconds ago, right, so I have learned.
Speaker 2:I want to say in my I guess you could say in my late 40s, before I got to the big five, oh, they're just waking up and being appreciative of how far God has brought you. You know, it's something to say. It's a moment to take and say, well, man, what is it that I really have wanted to do that I have not done? We're in 2025. We almost in 2030. That sounds crazy when we could think back to 1980 and 1995 and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Listen, and it does not always have to be a book. Yes, book, the books are my favorite topic but it don't have to be a book, just your story period. You can start a blog If you don't you feel like a book is a little too much of a project for you. You can start a blog and still write content and write about topics that you're passionate about and write about your thoughts and your views towards it. A lot, a lot of what you want to do on the inside can go a whole long way whether you have a book or not.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I wanted to, um, just remind you guys of that and just reflect back on what's on your list, what's on your to-do list, your personal to-do list, that you have not tapped into. It's always, I put it to the side. Procrastination will have us just straight, not living out any of our dreams, and that is not what I want you all to do. I want you to focus on living your dreams out. Being able to enjoy whatever the goals is. Whether it's a business, it don't have to be a business. It could be a hobby, it could be just something you wanted to do.
Speaker 2:I've been tapping into certain things that I've been talking about doing for 20 years and finally doing it. I procrastinated doing the radio show and I kept saying for three years like I just kept overthinking it, overthinking, and now I'm here and I love it and all I can think is what took me so long? I could have been did this. That's my favorite line now. I could have been did this, I could have been did this. So you don't want to be saying I could have been did this.
Speaker 2:Just start doing it. Do your research, go to google, read up on it, talk to somebody who has knowledge about it and then get started. Just start. I do believe in that saying just start when you start, then the rest will come. If you start and you be consistent and you are passionate about that thing, you will not believe what kind of connections you start getting and all of that. Start speaking it. Those words we talked about, the words last Tuesday, those words have meaning, they are powerful and they do work. Okay, so we're going to take a break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 3:Any day now Is what I kept telling myself On the last mile On the road to somewhere. But along the way I Saw the wind and the rain and, to my surprise, blew my mind. So many nights I had to hold on for my life. But I'm so glad, oh yeah now. Hurt and pain was sometimes my company, separated from those no guarantees. But one thing I knew for sure I've had my share of ups and downs. I made it, even though I'm blue. I've had to cry so many nights. I've had to hold on for my life.
Speaker 3:I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I survived, I. Oh. I know you heard this message before. I want to tell you once more it's alright, you will.
Speaker 2:Hey, we are back. So, like I was saying, you know, take the time to examine your personal to-do list about your dreams and goals. We spend our lives helping everybody else reach theirs and we never touch ours. We just kind of keep putting ourselves on the back burner. Stop doing that, don't do that, don't do that. We get one life, one. So you want to take the time to enjoy the things that you love. So I want to talk about business and branding for the next chapter.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you know I was already in this mode before my birthday. Let me just make that clear Before my birthday I was already in the mode of moving differently. You know setting up systems. You know visions and strategies. That is so important in whatever you have going on. If you have no business and you, you know it's just you but you like to read and study your Bible, do something special with that. I've seen people you know put all kind of colored things and bookmarks and just create this one girl I see her. She's having Bible study picnics. You know what I'm saying. It's just so much Enjoy the time that you have on earth. That's, that's really my focus. So now about this branding at 50. Listen, I am not playing anymore.
Speaker 2:If you have businesses, you can, and let's be clear, being an author is a business, okay. So if it's any other services that you offer and your business products and things like that, sit down, take the time to sit down every few months or every quarter and see what you need to remove. I'm doing a whole lot of that Taking things off my plate. We don't talk lot of that Taking things off my plate. We don't talk about the plate, taking things off my plate that I no longer want on there. Let me just make it clear Taking things off my plate I don't want to be bothered with, okay, and so that includes different services and different, just different things.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, when you've had enough of something, you're ready and you know what that means. That's where pivoting comes in. You know we may not. You might think that only the businesses that are six figure-ish and million dollars, they're the only ones that experience pivoting and going to the next level. No, you always can pivot. You can always go to the next level, because that's that that shows growth. That's how you can tell that you are growing, because you don't stay in the same place. You should not be staying in the same place.
Speaker 2:I'm not in the same place mentally, where I was last year, right that I'm in this year, okay, and we're halfway through 2025. And that's a biggie to me. Like I don't want 12, 31, 25, December 31st to show up and I ain't accomplished nothing. I haven't done anything on my list. So even sometimes I may find myself making more than one to-do list in a week sometimes or in a month, but as long as I'm making progress. I actually looked at my to-do list for my workload yesterday and I was able to check a couple things off. That's the part that I enjoy is checking off why I can write done next to the check because I completed it. So now it's off my plate, it's complete, I can move on to the next thing. That's all then going to the next level.
Speaker 2:So I hope you can you know, get that and understand what exactly what I'm saying today. I didn't, I didn't want to come on with too much of these steps and these strategies, but just a real nice talk to where you can start embracing who you are, what you love and just being happy in this season. And I had wrote down the happy journey Okay, vision and voice. The happy journey. What is your happy journey? I believe that I'm in my happy journey because I'm experienced. My visions that I've had for years are now coming to pass Not really coming to pass, but they're visual, they're here now. I'm living in it. You know what I'm saying. It's one thing to vision something and and it never happened, but then to also vision something and then to be literally living in it and there's nothing there that can stop you, there's nothing that can, you know, jump in the way. If it tries, it has no weight. You know what I'm saying? Because you just determined, and in that, all that consistency and working towards it, that's your barrier that protects that.
Speaker 2:So, um, birthday, clear declaration and empowerment. Birthday declaration my, my declaration for my 50th birthday was to I wanted to do something huge, something different. I didn't want to do what everybody else is doing I'm already doing that but I wanted to do something life-changing. I wanted to do something that created generational wealth and that can change lives. That was my big big thing. For me, right Now, somebody else they may just want to go out to eat and you know, go, you know party and things like that, but for me it was, it was, that was heavy on me.
Speaker 2:So I launched my uh, published in black chamber of commerce and, um, really, really, really excited about that. What does that mean? That means that instead of me just being a publisher, instead of me just being an author and a coach and all those other titles I have, now I can represent Black self-published authors in a different arena. Now I can, you know, next level this thing for real. For real, I can create policies. You know we have a lot of barriers when it comes to being black authors, when it comes to getting in the libraries, getting your voice heard. Sometimes funding is limited to us just because of the color of our skin. So I now, with that position and and that community as I build, I'm able to sit down at tables with, you know, those with big titles that have control to get things changed, so policies and different things can be put in place to where you cannot just tell me you can't put my book in a library. I actually I'm dealing with a situation with that right now with Gary Public Library and so, yeah, so now I can address some things and I can help you guys continue to grow your legacies and books and your voice and all of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Like next week we're going to talk about copywriting and all this, because it's not just about putting a book out. You have to make sure that your book is in place, it's in position to where you are. You register with the Library of Congress, like those are things that are really strong. It may seem, you know, kind of just something a little mild. No, no, that's heavy. That's heavy.
Speaker 2:My magazine is registered with the Library of Congress. You have people. Why is that important to me? It's important to me because most people just put together a magazine, print it and call it a magazine. No, my thing is always to be official. So even with your books, with the isbn numbers, those numbers mean something. That's your barcode, that's your social security number for your book, that particular book. It allows you to be seen in distribution. It allows your book to be in bookstores. You know what I'm saying. So when you go and you want your book in Walmart or Barnes and Nobles, if you don't have an ISBN and your book is not registered the right way, you will get denied. So it's just certain things we have to have in place. So, anywho, with my published in Black Chamber of Commerce, we will be able to address so many different issues and policies for Black self-published authors. Okay, so look forward to that. If you have questions or you're interested because I am working on a website that will be launching, hopefully before the end of June the email for that, the contact for that, is hello at Published in Black Chamber dot org. Hello at Published in Black Chamber dot org. Ok, so I definitely wanted to tell you guys about that.
Speaker 2:And then, being bold in this season, your happy journey is going to cause you to be bold. It's time out for sitting back and, just like you know, scared to speak up and scared to step out and scared to, you know, assume your position. You know what was that saying they were saying the last couple of years. What was that saying they were saying the last couple years? They assumed the, not assumed the position. They understood the assignment, understand your assignment. Understand your assignment and move forward. Period. We're not playing back door, no more. We are not playing what we oh, I didn't really want to say. Now, listen, you better step up and say and speak and all of that. That's how you're going to get your goals accomplished, that's how you're going to get to the next level. That's how you're going to step into that new arena and that new level that you have been praying for for so long. It's waiting on you. It's not about you waiting on God. He is waiting on you.
Speaker 4:And we're going to take a break. I'll worship and I'll is shifting, shifting the atmosphere Till the heavens are open. This praise is shifting, shifting, shifting the atmosphere For breakthrough and healing. Our worship is shifting, shifting, shifting the atmosphere.
Speaker 2:It's moving. Yes, it's time to focus on legacy, focus decisions, wealth building and impact with intention. You know so. When you decide to do whatever it is that you want to do, whatever is you've been having sitting, whatever it is you're curious about, it's time to be intentional about it. Be sure that you are not just creating things that you enjoy or that you're passionate about or, um, even something that you feel like will increase your income. You want to make sure that you're not just looking for something that is for right now, but think that it is going to how it's going to affect your future, even in wealth and increase in health. You know what I'm saying. Be sure, because a lot of times, we are so focused on the money because we don't want to live in lack, and I get it. That was me. It's still me, but I've also taken on a portion of focus to where it's about wealth building and thinking about my future. I'm 50. Yeah, I got about 50 more years, but how do I want to live in them next 50 years? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So that's why I said sometimes you got to examine with your business or whatever you got going on. It's time to take some things off and maybe add some new things on. What I like to do in my business is take things off that are on my list. That caused me to use up a lot of my physical time. I like to take that stuff off and replace it with things that don't cause me to be physically available. That's why I love digital products Bingo, right. So if you've been thinking about adding something in your business, add a digital product or two. You can add digital products to any business that you have, any business that you have.
Speaker 2:If your whatever industry you're in, whether you're in real estate, whether you're in trucking or whatever somebody always want to know how did you get started? That's a book. That's an e-book, okay, so don't sleep on that. That's an ebook, okay, so don't sleep on that. Replace things.
Speaker 2:When you're taking off things that are stressing you out and it's just too much and that season may be over you want to make sure that you're replacing it with something that does not require so much of your physical time. That's how you get closer to that freedom that you want to live. That's why we love real estate so much, because it doesn't require us to be there or clock in. You dig what I'm saying. So I just wanted to reflect on some of those things today and just remind you to um, stay focused, focused, fabulous and make legacy focused decisions. Okay, it has been amazing. Be sure to go to publish with tiffanycom, sign up for the email list, check out a publishing black magazinecom and go and sign up for the workshop event June 28th 2025 in Michigan city, indiana. I would love to see you in the building and I will talk to you guys next time.
Speaker 1:Love to see you in the building and I will talk to you guys next time. You have been listening to, published in Black with publishing expert and brand strategist, tiffany A Greenhood. Listen next week for real talk, powerful strategies and much more. Again, we thank you for listening.
