Jim Edwards: What's up everybody? Jim Edwards here with Stew Smith and special guest Miss Stella. I don't know how to say your last name spell sorry.

Stella: It’s okay, it happens.

Jim Edwards: How do you spell your last name? Stella?

Stella: Kokologiannakis

Jim Edwards: Right we're glad to have Stella K. here with us. And this is pretty awesome. Stew's looking for something.

Stew Smith: I am

Jim Edwards: But we're excited to have Stella because Stella... unless I'm misquoting is actually now officially a best selling Amazon author. Is that true?

Stella: Yes.

Jim Edwards: That is amazing. And Stella, I'm just gonna hazard a guess that you are probably under the age of 40. Yes, definitely. All right, which is awesome. So how old are you, Stella?

Stella: I am 12. But I finished my book before I turned 12.

Jim Edwards: Let's keep that straight Stew. That's right. She got her book done before she turned 12. Now most people have been jerking around for 12 years trying to write a book. And she like did Grammar School and stuff in between. So that is awesome. So Stella, you've got a special person with you. Who is that young lady to your left?

Stella: My amazing mom.

Christina: Hi.

Jim Edwards: All right. Well, it's awesome. Christina, we're excited to have you both here. And so just tell us a little bit about y'alls story. And how did we come to be here together while Stew keeps looking.

Stella: So my mom was looking and she decided to do your course for the book. And since I didn't really have anything that seemed better to do during the summer, I said, “Oh, why not? It might just be fun to try and see how it goes.”

And then as I started getting into the course, I realized that there was a lot more fun in that writing was a passion for me. And I just decided, oh, well, maybe I should write my own book. Maybe I should become a published author on Amazon.

Christina: Was it easy?

Stella: No

Jim Edwards: Okay, so we learned a vocabulary word, there's a difference between easy and simple. Was it simple?

Stella: For the most part, yes.

Jim Edwards: Okay. So it was, let's say, simple, straightforward and easy. It was straightforward.

Stella: Yeah.

Jim Edwards: But yeah. But on the flip side, let me ask you this. If you had not gone through the course and had tried to write your book, what do you think would have happened?

Stella: I probably would have procrastinated for about five to 10 more years.

Jim Edwards: You’re a smart young Lady.

Stew Smith: That is so true.

Jim Edwards: It is really true. That is awesome. So what did tell everybody hold your book up so everybody can see your book, because it's an amazing cover. And tell everybody just kind of what your book is about and look at you with multiple copies. That's smart. When you get a car, you can load up the trunk with them.

Stella: We bought a few copies.

Jim Edwards: So who is your Who's your target audience? And what's your book about?

Stella: So my target audience is any teenage girl from the ages of about 10 to, I want to say 16. And it's just kind of about embracing yourself, and not just feel like you need to fit into all those little cliques at school, you just kind of got to be yourself and just go with the flow.

Jim Edwards: Now why is it important to be yourself you think?

Stella: So it's really important because sometimes, when you try to fit in with little cliques at school, or at parties or wherever, you kind of just lose that feeling of Hey, look, it's me.

Instead, you might try to be a popular girl or a mean girl or something like that. I know I've definitely tried to do it many times before and I found out just being myself was a ton easier.

So that's just, it's so wrong to try and fit into everybody else. If they're not letting you into a clique. Don't be in a clique just don't ever start a clique. Just create a group of people you want to hang out with.

Stew Smith: Do you also deal with bullying and this as well?

Stella: Yes. So when I was in third grade, I was bullied like crazy because I was heavy. I'm not like a tiny little petite girl. So I was always bullied because they were insecure about how they felt of themselves.

I didn't realize it until I started writing the book. And I just was thinking of only I knew what I knew now because otherwise, well, I probably wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be talking to you guys. I wouldn't have a published book. I wouldn't be best friends with my mom or any of that.

Jim Edwards: That's awesome. That first thing you said though, I can tell you you're gonna carry that with you the rest of your life.

Stella: Yeah.

Jim Edwards: Because that that is definitely something to live by forever. So that's amazing.

Stew Smith: That is amazing. Another thing you said earlier is you didn't have anything better to do? That's what some of my best books come out. I don't have anything better to do I'll just write a book.

Stella: For me it was like I already wanted to write a book. I had like a fiction book started, but it was like really, really slow going. So I just decided to do a nonfiction because it'd be easier since I actually know what I want to happen because it's happened. It's happened before

Jim Edwards: What would be the best advice you would give to somebody about dealing with a bully? Mine would be punch him in the face. But Stew says I can't say stuff like that on the show. So

Stella: I've done that at science camp. It's great. That was a lot of fun. I was the only girl there who has ever gotten in a fight. So

Jim Edwards: This is why children should not take any advice from me whatsoever. It's good to take business advice, but no interpersonal advice. Stew would tell you that's not… deescalate. And all that other stuff.

Stew Smith: I will say I did not deescalate in mine in my situation.

Jim Edwards: I didn't need either.

Stew Smith: But it was life changing. It was really life changing. You know those moments? When you're no longer the victim. You know, it is life changing.

Jim Edwards: They move on to somebody else. So Stella is school started. Are you home-schooled? Or do you go to regular school?

Stella: I go to regular school. Private School.

Jim Edwards: You got Okay, so let me ask you. Does anybody at school know that you published a book? Have you shared it or anything?

Stella: Just about everybody and a few of my friends have bought copies

Jim Edwards: Nice. Did they want them autographed?

Stella: Some of them did but didn't have time to come to me and get an autograph because you have four classes a day, five minute break.

Christina: She just had a big fan come over last night and get his copy autograph because he was so excited. And we've had people actually email us requests for us autographed copies because they live across the country, and they want a copy.

Jim Edwards:  Cool. Now do you have any plans for additional books or a coaching pro? Tell me about your value ladder, Stella? What are we doing to build something out of this book?

Stella: So after this after the podcast today, I'm actually planning to see if I can get my AUDIO BOOK done. I've been procrastinating on ever so hard, just like I need to get it done. People are waiting.

Jim Edwards:  Okay.

Stella: So after that, I'm going to try and do a course, but it's gonna be… it's not going to be 20,000 a year because I can't imagine the teenage girls will be able to pay that. I know I can't because her mom pays for … I'm thinking maybe 50 to $100 a month. I haven't decided on the final price

Jim Edwards: Can I make a couple of suggestions? Give you a little coaching session here?

Stella: Absolutely.

Jim Edwards: I understand that your mom loves you more than she loves herself. And most moms love their daughters, and dads too. Dad, I mean you want to talk about Daddy bear. When my girls were little, man, I was a helicopter lawnmower parent with an M 16 machine gun. I mean it was so… What you got to understand is if you're helping young ladies with an issue, that's a big deal, and it's something that their parents are sitting there and feeling helpless and watching the girls struggle and stuff. Mom and Dad will stroke money to solve the problem for the kids.

So don't undervalue the result. You're not selling based on a price, you're selling based on a result. If you can help a young person to have high self-esteem and to have a wonderful self-image and to solve the issues that plague people's teenage years, parents will move heaven and earth to pay for it. So don't… you're paying for a result.  And that doesn't mean try, “Oh man, Jim said I can make enough money for a Lambo off of this stuff” but don't undercharge your worth.

The other thing is I was putting off doing my audio book for my for... my Copywriting Secrets. I don't know if you guys got the audio version or not when you got Copywriting Secrets.

Christina: I should have gotten it, but I passed on it and regret it.

Stella: She doesn't read books.

Jim Edwards: Mom! Gosh! So what we did… I knew I had to get it done. And one of the things you can do to get your audio book done is to make yourself responsible in two ways.

One, make yourself responsible by setting a date, that's going to be done by number two, find somebody that you really, really, really respect and you value their opinion of you. And you hold them in high esteem and say, “Hey, look, I'd like you to help me make my audio book. I'm going to read the book. And then I would like for you at the end of each chapter to ask me questions.”

And then what that does is it creates an enhanced audio book experience. That's what we did to do mine. I said to Stew, “Hey, man, can I read you the book?” And he's like, “Yeah, cuz I don't want to read the book, but I'll listen to it.”

So we jumped on. That's what he said. So we jumped on zoom. And I think we did what four sessions Stew, three or four sessions?

Stew Smith: Yeah.

Jim Edwards: I read the book. And then at the end of each chapter, Stew asked me questions about the chapter, which drew out even more information from me. And people have said that they really, really, really, really enjoy that.

And Christina, since you passed, but since you and Stella are star pupils, reach out to Nancy and tell her I said that you can get the audio book, at no charge.

Stella: You’re excited!

Christina: I am.

Jim Edwards: So you know, that's another thing you can do is pick somebody…Maybe you could even pick a group of girls or a couple of your friends and say, “Okay, I'm going to read the book. And then you guys can ask me questions, or we can have a discussion about that chapter at the end of each chapter.”  And that might create a really cool dynamic with talking with your friends.

The other thing I would tell you is, when I read the book, it wasn't perfect. And we did it on one pass. So when I messed up here and there, it was like pppfffttt. I didn't even edit it. I mean… we just… we… Now I’m not saying read it, like you've got, you know, a kindergarten reading level. But what I'm saying is that if you mess up a word or something, just keep going, just…

Stella: That's what adds character to it, right? That's how they know. Oh, hey, look, look, she read it. She didn't hire some fancy schmancy professional to go and read it. She did it herself.

Jim Edwards: Exactly. And the one thing is that if you really screw it up, then you might want to start over. We did that once. I think we… I don't know Stew distracted me or something. But, I'm just kidding. But the thing is, that's what I would suggest you do.

And you know, pick a date and do it. And maybe that'll give you kind of a feel for how you could also envision doing a course and give you some ideas, the questions that girls ask you about the different topics and chapters that maybe you didn't cover, and what they want to know more information about that'll help you to flesh out the course. So,

Stella: Yeah, and I was also thinking of doing like a book book for the parents of the teenage girls like on how instead of saying, “Oh, you just need to suck it up” or something like that. Help them say, “Okay, how can I help my little girl to be able to just cope.”

Jim Edwards: Okay, I like that. That's pretty cool. I like an instruction manual for your teenage daughter. Hey, that's a cool title. instruction manual for your teenage daughter. I like that. What else you got Stew? Any other questions?

Stew Smith: How about this? Where are you getting the books printed?

Stella: Amazon right now.

Jim Edwards: Okay.

Christina: We're gonna do a free plus ship. We just haven't set it up yet. And then we'll use.. I believe it's Lulu.

Stew Smith: Yeah, yeah, that's who I use. I sell on Amazon as well. And people have the option of the Kindle or the printed version. But I also sell versions that allow for a binder, right?

So if you have a book maybe that has a journaling section in it or something like that, these come in real handy to be able to, you know, fold them in half. And you know, I have workout charts so I try to make it easy for the customer. Otherwise the books just fall apart after multiple uses. So just...

Stella: That reminds me I also wanted to do like a journal for the teenage girls, but this would be like later on.

Stew Smith: 100%.

Jim Edwards: That's great back end sale.

Christina: Yeah.

Stella: But like that, just give me an idea that’d be so cool. Instead of having the regular the regular paperback book, like that spiral bound, that will be so much… that would be so much cooler.

Jim Edwards: Yeah, for a journal. Absolutely. And that's the kind of thing that as you start developing your fan base, you could sell them a new journal every year. That's a way to look at creating that. And that's a that's a great way to make extra money to pay car insurance in a few years.

Stella: I am only 12. I don’t need it yet.

Jim Edwards: Yeah, four years, four years. We'll be here quick. Don't you blink.

Stew Smith: Yeah.

Jim Edwards: As you start speaking across the world and stuff with one… you know… speaking from stage and making money and you're like, “Mom, you know, I want a Bentley.” Bentley! So she can drive you around. Yeah. But at some point, you're gonna want to have your own.

Stew Smith: Like, yeah… I do you have a question for mom.

Stella: Of course

Stew Smith: Heck yeah, there you go like that. Yeah, I do have a question for mom. I also wrote a book with my daughter when she was about your daughter's age. And it was just a picture book that she liked to draw at the time. And it was about our beagles is really kind of cute.

And I wanted to show it, I just cannot find it. It's probably upstairs in a treasure chest or something. But anyway, so how was it for you as a mom doing this project with your daughter?

Christina: I think it was really good because Stella did the book a little differently, right? So we did interviews, and then she wasn't happy with it. She said, “Well, it doesn't feel like the style.” So I said, “Okay, let's sit down…

Jim Edwards: You don’t feel it what?

Christina: She didn't feel like the style was her style.

Jim Edwards: Okay.

Christina: She just didn't like the way it was coming out. And so then I said, “Okay, let's sit down as mom and daughter, let's record just talking… talking about when they were born” because she was born as a preemie. I struggled to keep her in, she came with 30 weeks.

So I said, “Let's talk about your story. Let's talk about how life you know kind of happened for you over so many years.” Just have that conversation. And we recorded it, we had it transcribed. And then she still said, “I still don't like that.”

And I said, “Well, what do you want to do?”

And she goes, “I want to sit down and write my story.”

And I said, “Okay, let's, let's actually sit down and write your story.”

Stella: I used the transcription for ideas on what I wanted.

Christina: So she actually sat there, and she wrote the whole thing 100% herself. And then I would read through it, and I would say, “You know…”

Stella: “It'd be cool if you added this or put this.”

Christina: Yeah. And so I would just give her suggestions on what you can add or, or say… You know, because I do a lot of mindset and I actually do coaching as well. And so I said, when I work with my clients, the biggest thing that they struggle with, is their mindset, or getting something done or how do you change your mind on if someone's bullying you? How do you change that?

Like, what do you what actions you need to take, instead of saying, “I was being bullied.” Then give them tips on what they can do to help themselves right? You don't want to just say I'm having a problem. It is how do you fix it? So I just kept giving her tidbits on that. I think the hardest thing with procrastination as you both probably know what it's really hard…

Stella: I have a tendency to procrastinate even on homework

Christina: It's just… It's easy to just pass and say I don't want to do it. In the process itself is very simple and I love that. It was more of her just getting the information on the paper. The hardest part for her once that was done… I mean getting the cover of the book… we…

The funny thing is we started completely different like it didn't even start like this

Stella: It was like… I think you… I think Jim, you saw it in the Facebook group. It was like a weird square thing and I'm like…

Christina: With like paint strokes and glitter and then it morphed into something else. And then through Jim, your group people were saying you should have something that really represents your target. We found this picture the person we used said, “No no no… Let's use this picture.”

And she created this, and it just came out…

Stella: It is like a little thing on Google Slides, and I just kind of put some images together. It just kind of morphed.

Christina: Yeah so it came out to this. And so that was fantastic. And then once she really saw the cover and was like this is my…

Stella: This is what I like.

Christina: Yeah, and then the story just poured out so it was really cool.

Jim Edwards: And that's… you know… It's interesting because there's a lot to unpack there real quick. But one of the things that's why we tell everybody get your cover nailed upfront because when you get the cover done up front… It turns a switch inside your brain like wow that's a book cover and that's mine. I got… I mean I'm really doing this. And did you feel that? It sounds like that's kind of what you felt once you saw the cover. And it was the cover… you're like man we really doing this.

Stella: Yes

Jim Edwards: And that's awesome

Stella: Like 50 bucks to get the cover, so yeah…

Jim Edwards: Well there you go. Well thanks mom. We appreciate the… We'll get you reimbursed as book sales come in.

And then the other thing is that you were really smart as far as how you said, “You know what I don't like this. I don't like how this doesn't sound like me.” And you know the original 7 Day Ebook model was to sit down and write it. It was sit down… you… It was three days of intense writing, and then a day of editing. And then getting other people to look at it and stuff.

And that was like three full days of writing. So for some people, the interview thing is great. For other people using stuff they've already done for other people… You know, I just… I got to sit down and I got to have an outline, and I got to do it.

And the way that you did it is pretty much the way that I do it now. I'm in the middle of creating my next book… my next book book. It's funny you said book book. But yeah, my next book book is combination. I get it all out of my head in training and other stuff. I get it transcribed, and then I write, rewrite, do all that stuff.

Now you don't have to do that every time. Sometimes it's just, you know, it just makes sense to do it out. But I commend you for wanting to make it really good and make it a book book instead of just something you threw out there to say, “Hey, look what I did this summer.”

So very well done, Stew. Any other questions? or thoughts or anything?

Stew Smith: Naw, I just completely enjoyed this conversation to a point where, you know… I realized that I don't want to say this… you know, you're 11 years old, and you wrote your first book.

Jim Edwards: She's 12

Stew Smith: Oh, 12. Sorry,

Jim Edwards: She was eleven when the book was finished,

Stew Smith: Wrote your first book. And we all tend to procrastinate and make excuses. And, you know, postpone things. But I really love the fact that you just said, “You know what, I'm doing it now.”

And that's how you get things done. I mean, this, this process for you is going to be helpful for every little challenge you have for the rest of your life.

Jim Edwards: Right.

Stew Smith: Yeah, you just start doing it. And I think I think you are a great model for not only for girls your age, but also for people who want to write their first book, as well.

Jim Edwards: Yeah, absolutely. And that you just to expand on one thing Stew said there is that as you're going through life, you're going to have challenges. You're going to have things that pop up that are going to be those moments of decision where you have to decide, “Am I gonna suck it up and drive on or am I going to be like most people and just coast?”

And this is forever going to be a touchstone that you can go back to and say, “You know what, when I was 11, I did something that most grownups talk about, dream about, wish about, and never do.” And so when things get hard you can always look back and say you know what, I've done hard stuff. I've done difficult stuff. I've bared down, bore down, and gotten something significant done.

And really anchor that in your heart and use it as something to help you moving forward for the rest of your life. And on the also on the flip side, don't let this be the pinnacle. You know… remember, remember those kids in high school, mom, Stew, where you were like, “Man, these kids are peeking. This is gonna be the… this is… this is the highlight of their entire life is happening in high school.” And then the rest they're, you know…

Christina: Trying to make up for it.

Jim Edwards: They are trying to relive those days. And there are some of us that you know… You still haven't peaked yet. And I would just encourage you, Stella, just never peak. Just see this as the beginning of just great things in your life and what you're going to accomplish. And I expect big things from you.

Stella: In English seven honors terms basically, this is the exposition you don't want there to be a climax and falling action. And….

Jim Edwards: Absolutely, you are going to be the ever-growing protagonist of your own story.

Stew Smith: Well, I will tell you this, you have done something that is very hard to do. Right? And you made it. You completed it, and you made it look easy, right?

I mean, I know it wasn't and it never is, but you make it look easy. And to be able to take something that is hard to do and then bring your attitude around and say, “Oh, this is easy. I just need to get started.” Right? That's That's it. Right? I mean, that is gonna be so powerful for you. I'm excited to see what's next for you.

Jim Edwards: Absolutely. So go ahead, Christina.

Christina: I was gonna say she… Her next steps we were talking about because she really wants to help a lot of the teenage girls. And there's so many even at her school where they feel like they have to act a certain way or be a certain way…

Stella: So sad one of my sixth-grade friends she changed so much. Now she's just… I don't know the word for it, but now she's just like really rude and before that she was the sweetest person in the world sixth grade, and I don't know what happened.

Christina: Yeah so a lot of the teenage girls at this age you know they go through struggles, right? And I remember when I was little, I wanted to write a book. I wanted to do a lot of things. My parents didn't have money. Life was different back then. Right? It was harder to do.

And I told Stella you know, you have to have encouragement to do whatever it is that you want to do in life, right? You have to go for it because you have one life, but she really…

Stella: Yeah.

Christina: She really wants to help more teams. So our goal… She wants to do it right away, but I was like let's ramp up to it. She wants to go ahead and create a community and start doing..

Stella: Live events

Christina: Live events like a weekend where we…

Stella: After COVID, I want to do like this huge hotel event where it's a two day thing

Jim Edwards: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. That's awesome.

Stella: Giant party

Christina: She wants to have speakers there as well. The big thing is we're talking about is she wants to have speakers there.

Stella: I want to have you there

Christina: Yes, she wants to have you there. She wants to have speakers to help teach the teenage girls different things to help with mindset, but also to help teach them and say you can start a business. You can… You can create something. You don't have to wait till you're 20 30 40 years old. So that's really her big goals if she can just change the life of one teenage girl at a time, then she's changing the world.

Jim Edwards: Let me do you let me do you one better. So if the world will un-mess itself, we are doing the Jimboat… Is scheduled for November 2022. If you can get on the boat, I'll have you speak. You can come and speak. And I won't charge you for the tickets or anything, you just have to pay for your cruise.

You got a year to make the money, but you can come and speak on the Jimboat. I don't know how many teenage girls I'll have there for your audience, but you… I'll give I'll give you an audience and you can speak. And talk about your experience and just whatever… I'll give you I'll give you a slot if you and mom and the rest of the fam can make it to the boat. You can.. You know you… I'll give you that opportunity if you're if you'd like so. And I would be honored to come speak on your stage.

Christina: You can't tell. She's like screaming on the inside.

Jim Edwards: Okay, but I… I'm… and that’s sincerely meant. So, the dates for the Jimboat I think are like the 16th through the 23rd of next November. It's in that time frame. We're gonna start once all the COVID stuff… cruise ships and everything… You know, it was gonna be November this year, but we pushed it off in the summer.

And I'm glad we did because it just too much uncertainty. But hopefully in the next year, they'll get everything squared away. But you'll come and we'll put you on stage. And you can share your message and get some stage time practice. And who knows, maybe you'll get some coaching clients there. So I think that would be amazing.

Christina: Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you.

Jim Edwards: Absolutely. We're gonna see if we get Stew there this time, too.

Stew Smith: Yep, you're making me brave wanting to go, Stella.

Jim Edwards: That's right. Cool. All right. Well, any final thoughts?

Stella: Okay, you guys are both amazing. My mom is amazing. And everything is awesome.

Jim Edwards: Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of a team. That's awesome. Well, thank you both very much for being with us. We're super proud of you. The comments in in the chat and on Facebook and everybody's just like, so cool. So cool. Everybody's just really super proud of you. And we are super proud of you and just encourage you to just to keep going Stella, and we will see you at the top very soon.

Stella: Thank you.

Christina: Thank you so much.

Jim Edwards: Thank you. Bye bye bye.