If You Had 30 Minutes Alone With Peter Bowerman…

What Burning Questions Would You Ask Peter Bowerman?www.inkthinkerblog.com — …what would you ask him?

This is the question on my mind right now. Last summer, I won a free coaching session with the well-fed writer himself, and I have yet to use it. I’m not scared of talking to him or anything like that — I’ve met the guy and he’s super cool. I don’t think I’m scared of asking stupid questions, as I’m quite confident he’s gotten dumber inquiries than anything I may want to ask him.

Partly I’m scared of wasting it, I think. Thirty minutes with the guy who, for me, defined freelance writing. Thirty minutes to ask him anything I want, to get advice on any aspect of my career. What’s the best way to use that time? It’s not like I can’t buy more. (I mean, the guy does sell coaching services.) The thing is, I think I know just enough about what I should be doing that I don’t have any questions about what I can do differently. I know WHAT to do, and I have a concept of how to do it. I’m just lacking in the execution area.

I’m not sure it’s lack of motivation, but maybe rather lack of confidence. Shooting for $100K is a big deal. What if I fail? Publicly and badly?

Well, what if I fail? Who cares? It’s not like I’m going to starve. But failure as a writer is not an option — it would just be failure to meet some arbitrary goal.

So back to my dilemma. I know how to write. Apparently, I can run a pretty decent business. So is my question, “How do I do it better?”

What would YOU ask if you had 30 minutes alone with Peter Bowerman? Leave a comment.

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  • Patricia Harrelson Jan 9, 2008 Link

    I’m a new kid on the block, having initiated writing a business plan the first week in December. I’ve spent so much time reading the wealth of information so many of you (Kristen included) have posted on blogs over the past several years that I feel like I’ve returned to graduate school, and I’m deeply immersed in a gazillion topics I want to know EVERYTHING about. I read one post called that was packed with good info: “Building a Foundation: Ten Things to Do First If You’re Looking at Starting Your Own Business.” (Sorry I can’t provide the link; I printed it out before I understood the value of linkbacks but it might have been on Startup Spark). One instruction is to “Find a mentor,” which clearly Bowerman is, and the writer of this article suggests this important question to ask a mentor: What would you do diffrently if you started over again? As a new freelancer, this seem like a meaty question. Looking forward to hearing the questions other’s suggest.
    ph (who has only a personal blog but is in the process of developing her business web site)

  • You have NOTHING to worry about, especially “wasting your allotted time with him.”

    It’s simply not possible to waste time with Peter Bowerman–he is so absolutely genuine, open and eager to help other writers, the only way you could waste your time with him is if you slipped into a comma while you were meeting with him–even at that you’d probably come out of your comma having had absorbed some of his wisdom.

    I met Peter several years ago through a mutual networking contact at Georgia Writers. I’ve had the pleasure of speaaking on the phone with him (he gave me some spot on advice about the writing book I was working on at the time. And I also attended one of his conference workshops (First Coast Writers) I’ve even had the pleasure of enjoying his company during a “happy hour” social atmosphere with some of the other conference instructors–even in an after conference hours social gathering, he couldn’t help but be inspiring and helpful.

    That’s the beauty of being able to be around people who are passionate about what they do; not only are they good at it what they do, but they can’t help but be inspiring and helpful to other people who share their passion.

    Relax & Enjoy!

    Janet

  • Diane Feb 2, 2008 Link

    My suggested question:
    “Given my particular background skills, abilities and connection, am I focusing myself in the best way that I can to achieve my goal of making $100k in 2008, and if not, how could I refocus?”

    Think of it as tweaking, refining, letting him help you find the path of greatest reward for you in meeting your 2008 goal of $100k.

    Good luck and Congrats on winning 30 min with him!

    Diane

  • admin Feb 4, 2008 Link

    These are really excellent questions, you guys. Maybe I can sweet talk PB into writing a guest post… We’ll see!

    kk