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Shine On Success
Shine on Success is a dynamic, story-driven podcast where extraordinary entrepreneurs, visionary leaders, and resilient change-makers share their journeys to success, revealing both the challenges and the strategies that led to their breakthroughs. Each episode offers a unique blend of inspiring personal stories, practical business insights, and actionable advice, allowing our guests to connect with an engaged, growth-oriented audience ready to be motivated and uplifted. By joining us, you’ll not only have the opportunity to showcase your expertise and inspire listeners but also to be part of a powerful platform that celebrates ambition, innovation, and the courage to turn dreams into reality.
Shine On Success
Write Your Legacy: Transforming Lives Through the Power of Books
In this episode of Shine on Success, host Dionne Malush sits down with the incredible Michelle Vandepas, co-founder of Grace Point Publishing, a prolific author, and a passionate advocate for helping others tell their stories. Together, they explore how writing a book can elevate your platform, transform your personal journey, and even change lives. Michelle shares her insights on overcoming adversity, the creative process, and the importance of putting yourself out there. Whether you're an aspiring author, a seasoned writer, or someone curious about the world of publishing, Michelle's wisdom and infectious enthusiasm will inspire you to start writing your own story. Join us for a conversation filled with powerful takeaways, personal revelations, and the encouragement you need to turn your ideas into a published reality. Don't miss out on the chance to learn from a master in the art of storytelling and book publishing!
Connect with Michelle here:
Website: https://michellevandepas.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.vandepas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle.vandepas/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellevandepass/
Connect with Dionne Malush
- Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh
- LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush
- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
- Facebook: /dmalush
- LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush
Have you ever wondered how turning your life's mission into a book can not only elevate your platform, but also transform your life? Welcome to Shine on Success. I'm your host, dionne Malish. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Michelle Vandepaul, a prolific author, speaker, coach and co-founder of Grace Point Publishing. Michelle has helped thousands of authors elevate their platforms and profit through her innovative approach to publishing. With five best-selling books under her belt, she brings a wealth of knowledge to our discussion today, so let's dive in. Welcome, michelle. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. It's so much fun to be here. Oh, I'm so excited. I love this. I really am getting to a point where the relationships that I'm building through podcasting is unbelievable. I was just on with someone in Santa Monica. Now you're in Colorado. Yeah, someone in Australia. So, yeah, super exciting.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about one of the most important questions that I have for you. What is one thing you would like people to know about you?
Speaker 2:Oh, wow. So maybe that I'm a cheerleader first, that I really help find the best in people and bring out that more and more and more. So you know, I think that's true for my team, my children, my clients, my books. I'm always looking for the best, and let's focus on that and your superpowers and get you where you want to be in life, wherever that is, whatever that means to you.
Speaker 1:So how does a book help a person get in their business, say, or in their personal life? What does a book do.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the first thing just by writing the book you're going to go through a huge personal up level. You just will, whether it's a personal memoir, whether you are writing a business book, whether you're writing how to heal from trauma, whatever it is. And I'm not even talking about just nonfiction that's where I specialize. But even fiction like you have to dig deep, you have to trust your instincts, you have to trust that the next paragraph's coming Writers get stuck all the time. It's a huge creative process. So you really learn to trust yourself. You learn to really understand in nonfiction what you're willing to put on the paper, what you're willing to publish. And you have to be willing to put it all down on paper and know that not all of that will end up in print. There's a big editing process, so each stage is a huge internal up level. So whether that's good for you personally or good for your business, we can talk about that.
Speaker 1:So a few years ago probably 10 maybe I wrote a book called 25 tips for selling a home in Pittsburgh as a real estate agent. It was the best marketing tool that I ever used because I'd walk into the house. I'd show him the book and I'd say you know, I literally wrote the book on selling houses in Pittsburgh and that was it, signed it like I was. You know the famous author that I was and I was the only person to ever do it.
Speaker 1:Still, 10 years later, I'm still the only person to write a book on 25 tips on selling a home here. So it was really cool because I for marketing it helped me, but it actually gave me a persona right, Something I felt good about, very strong, and I have the physical book and I can hand it to them. I think book writing is amazing. I love books. I have so many that I told my husband when I die I want all my good books in my casket with me.
Speaker 2:Like, I seriously want to take them with me.
Speaker 1:So I love reading and I love sharing that, and I also have a tiny little library at my house too, because I love it Nice. Yeah, so I like it so much that I actually give them away. Yeah, let's talk about a defining moment that made you realize you wanted to pursue a career in publishing.
Speaker 2:I don't think it happened that way. So don't we think life happens that way, like we get like defining moments and we make choices. But actually I find life is full of twists and turns and weird choices that lead you to something else totally unexpected. So I published my first book 25 years ago and then I just started consulting with other business owners about why to publish a book to help you in business, just like you were talking about right and I did that for 10, 12 years and then I realized I'm helping all these people sort of publish their books, but they don't really understand publishing. I was helping them write the book and so then I opened up a publishing company and I started actually publishing and learning the whole publishing process. But there wasn't like one defining thing necessarily. It was like all the small decisions that led to here I Am 10 years later 200 books published, thousands of authors helped, right Team of editors. It just kind of evolved.
Speaker 1:So do you do a lot of co-authoring, like do you have, you know, there's like a lot of famous people that'll co-author books with you to help you to grow? Is that something that you do or recommend? Does that really tell the story correctly?
Speaker 2:So we have published books with co-authors and we have published books with famous people like Jack Canfield or Brian Tate Tracy whatever who's written forewords for the book or taken pictures with our authors. We have published anthologies where there might be 10 or 12 or 20 authors in one book. I don't co-author with people, I'm a publisher. I help authors really put out their very best work and I always say it's not the writing, we can fix the writing. It's the internal journey of yes, I'm ready to do this, I'm committed, I want to do it, I'm willing to go through the process and then we can help you fix the writing if the writing's not up to par.
Speaker 1:That's great. I love that. I love the way you explain that. So one thing about this podcast you always talk about adversity and how you push through to get to the other side. So has there been a significant adversity in your life that you pushed through and then the other side was something amazing?
Speaker 2:So there's lots of things. I'm like old according to the government, right, I'm on the other side. But I really think most people have a lot of adversity. And I will say I think women especially have a lot of adversity in their life for, for whatever reason, it just seems like we do, and so you know, bringing up my children, my daughter tons of adversity. I was a foster mom for a long time. Lots of adversity. Being a foster mom is not something I would ever do again, but being on the other side of it, it totally changed me. It changed my view of the world. It changed my view of the world. It changed my view of children, changed my view of compassion and grace and all kinds of things. Right, it totally changed me as a person, but it was not the easiest thing I ever did. Some people are born for that. I was not born for that. Not know what I was getting into. Right, yeah, I'm not born for it either.
Speaker 1:I don't think.
Speaker 2:I don't think I've had huge betrayals from business partners you know where basically took all the money in the middle of the night and closed the bank account.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I have a partner right now. I've got to make sure the bank is safe.
Speaker 2:And it's totally unexpected and that's a very, very long time ago and took me a while to get over it. But just like everything you know, you got to just keep going and I like to say my. You know people ask me, you know what's your success tip? My success tip is getting out of bed and showing up every morning. That's it right. Sometimes that's all we can do, and the world is so busy and crazy and angry and full of joy and full of sorrow and so much going on that it's a win if you just show up to work every day.
Speaker 1:Such a great perspective because there are some days that some people can't even get out of bed. They just can't, you know. So to be able to push yourself to get up, it puts you in that top group, you know, because it is hard. There are days, honestly, I feel like myself, and I, you know, I'm busy too. Yeah, it is hard. There are days, I, honestly, I feel like myself and I, you know, I'm busy too Just laying there and just not getting up. Today, but I get up anyways. You know, I think that helps me to be able to navigate hard times in my own personal life. And, you know, as women, we do take things differently, you know, no matter what, we're built differently and we go through a lot and it's emotional, it's life is emotional and it's beautiful. It's also sad and so, you know, I feel, through my life, I think I have a bestseller in me. I really do.
Speaker 1:Yeah we probably all do, but I think if I looked back one day, a couple weeks ago, someone said I was going on a podcast and he said why don't you write down all the things that happened in your life? So I was writing and writing and I showed it to him at the party.
Speaker 2:It's like that's all bad stuff is stuff. Is there any good stuff? I'm like, oh yeah, there's a ton of good stuff.
Speaker 1:But focus initially on all the negative right, Right, right that pushed you and made you who you are.
Speaker 1:today there's a lot of stuff in our lives and I'm not far. I feel like I'm on the backside of my life too. I'm 56. I don't have 50 years left, I know that. So I'm on the other side, right? I love what you said and I love the way you talk, because you're just so easy to understand. So thank you for that. So let's talk about mentors. You know, do you have a mentor? Is there anybody that's been in your life, a coach that you've personally had to help?
Speaker 2:you. I have very trusted friends that I bounce things off of. I have joined masterminds. I have joined coaching programs. I have, you know, you've got Think and Grow Rich behind you. That was one of the first books I ever read. Wayne Dyer was incredible. I saw him speak several times, it's you know. I've been to Brian Tracy's house. He's amazing. I've interviewed him. So my mentors are kind of old school people Zig Ziglar, we're old school, like we're going back a ways. I love him. But now today there's lots of people I follow, lots of coaches I follow, and I take like one thing from each person, because the world is so diverse these days. I think we can all pick and choose how we want to craft our life. So one person saying post on social media every day and build your audience that way, and someone else is saying you don't have to be on social media at all and you can build your audience Right. So you have to choose what's right for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's so many opinions right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're all correct for that person.
Speaker 1:So how long have you been in business? Tell me about your, just about your whole professional career.
Speaker 2:I've been in business really since I was in my twenties. One way or another I started selling office supplies and then I opened an office supply company. I had a homeopathic company. Back in the eighties and nineties I worked with holistic practitioners. You know I've done a lot of things. I've been in publishing a long time now. That's kind of, I guess, the crux of everything. But I, like most people who consider themselves entrepreneurs, I've had lots of side hustles and lots of other things going on, right. But you know I do. I have a division that does marketing. I have a division that helps people with self-publishing. I own a publishing company. So I have all these different facets. But it's really all the things I've done my whole professional life, which is help people market, do business consulting, help people get themselves out there, help people with their message and visibility, right. It's just. I do it through just I do it through the lens of publishing now.
Speaker 1:So tell me which one of your favorite success stories that you helped a client with.
Speaker 2:There's quite a few. One of our most famous authors is Toby Doerr and she's really famous because she was on Nightline and America's Most Wanted and all kinds of stuff and she went to prison for breaking her boyfriend out of dog in a dog crate and she was all over the news for a while. You may remember that story and she went to prison and then totally turned her life around and we published her memoir and it's just an incredible story of a woman who kind of got sucked in she would never say that Kind of got sucked into a world and then paid dearly and then turned her life around. So that's a great success story. I've published books politicians that have done pretty well. Newscaster in Boston that's done really well.
Speaker 2:Some fiction books that have done well. You know I think well is like success. It's very personal and means something different to everybody. So one person might only sell a few hundred books but if they have a program at the back end and the back end's program is two or $5,000, they're doing extremely well right off their book. So just like you, you know having your book about how to sell a house, that was incredibly successful. For you book about how to sell a house that was incredibly successful for you. Right, you gave it away. You didn't even sell it.
Speaker 1:You gave it away right and I'm gonna get it. I'm gonna show you it so you can see it. I have it right here. I actually I think it's just. It was so fun and so creative and so accurate.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's great I love that top secret. I love that that's a great book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks, and and I loved it, isn't it like if I I never really put a dollar on it, but now you made me think maybe I should sit down and think about how much this actually I made from this over the years. You know I was selling like 78 houses a year in my prime and that's a lot. It sells between 8 and 12, so for four or five years straight that's what I sold and I can really say that it came from my sphere of influence, past clients and, you know, using this book. So, yeah, it's the greatest marketing tool I ever, and so I was excited when I saw you want to come on. I love the idea of marketing and books.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got to like clip that and use that on my reels. You just gave a whole like reason. Yeah, I mean, you gave me some ideas.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's incredible, and so I actually worked with a lady here in Pittsburgh. She had a company called no BS Marketing. It was a.
Speaker 1:Dan Kennedy, like it was a Dan Kennedy marketing, and so we used to go to there and it was great. We'd go once a month and she had incredible meetings every week. Every month it was a different marketing idea, and then one of them was writing books. So I sat down and I worked with them and put it all together. And I have another one for the buyers too, which I still I haven't finished it, but it's close, like it's probably within three hours of being completed. Wow, but I don't sell real estate anymore, so now I gotta figure out how do I use the book, but what I need to do is just write another book and have some fun with that but well, yeah, so white label them for your, yeah for other that's really what I should do, for sure.
Speaker 1:I love that idea. So how about daily habits or routines, like as a successful person? You've been self-motivated for a very long time very long time.
Speaker 2:yeah, 40 years. You know, really, like I said earlier, I just get up and show up to work every day. I have to-do lists, I have goals, I have whys, I have vision. You know I'm kind of pingy. I have lots of creative ideas, I do lots of different things right. And so, you know, I do not get up at five and drink green juice and do yoga on the patio and read an inspirational biblical quote and eat a good breakfast before I go to work. I just don't, you know an inspirational biblical quote, eat a good breakfast before I go to work? I just don't.
Speaker 2:You know, my life did not work out that way. I get up, have some coffee and eat something and go to work and then I work through my to-do list. I make sure that I do spend time every week visioning about where I want my business to be. I walk a lot and think and walk and brainstorm and vision. So I do a lot of that. But I'm also in the weeds doing, you know, book cover design and editing and promoting authors and doing podcasts and all these kinds of things. So for me, you know, the habits are maybe a little bit different than your typical you know guy who's out there saying rah rah. This is how you have to make it work, cause that just didn't work for my life, especially with kids in the house well.
Speaker 1:The visualization, though, is something that's important, and what you're saying, what you're doing now will you retire? I will?
Speaker 2:probably. You know, I don't know, I need something right and I love what I do, so I don't know. It's not in the cards this year.
Speaker 1:No well, I like that because I do think it does keep you somewhat useful when you have something that you love and you do it every day, and if you're happy doing it, I don't know why you can't work till whenever you don't want to work anymore, right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So is there a next phase for your life, or are you happy in this space, or is there something else that you're going to do?
Speaker 2:I'm pretty happy in this space. You know, my next thing as a publisher is to take someone in New York Times bestseller and that's a pretty big commitment from a publisher and from an author. It's a big financial commitment on both sides. There's a lot of marketing, a lot of publicity and I need the best book. So that's a goal for next year. You know, I have lots of things that I do under the publishing company. I teach writing, I have lots of free events and trainings, I do workshops, I do retreats, right. So I'm always doing stuff, so it's not bored, so it's like there's always something. Next. Come on retreat with me, come to a workshop, you know.
Speaker 1:So are you saying that the New York Times bestselling author is not the same as an Amazon bestselling author for five minutes? No, it's not, it's not, I'm being sarcastic, actually.
Speaker 2:I know you are, and here's what I like to say is one of my taglines is don't write a bestselling book, write a great book.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yes, everybody and their brother can have a bestselling book. And the thing with New York Times you have to have a really good book to hit New York Times, but you also have to have a big marketing machine behind you. So just because you wrote a great book does not mean you're going to hit lists. Wow, right, it's got to be a great book and you got to do all the other stuff. It's a business, right. So you got to do all the other stuff. It's a business, right. So you got to have marketing, you got to have pr, you're gonna have publicity, you're gonna have pre-sales, you're gonna have all the things which you don't have to have.
Speaker 1:All those things for an amazon bestseller no, you just have to have some friends and everybody, please, please, buy this book today. I mean, it's cool though, you know. At least you did it, at least you, you put it Right.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so many people never finish their books or a lot of people just put up a really bad book and then they get bad reviews or no reviews.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you said something before about a retreat. What does that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I do retreats, I do writing retreats, I do creativity retreats. I find when people are stuck writing, often they need to do something different, creatively, to open up their brain. So we do other things. We do collages and mask making and rock painting and other things in our writing retreats, just to help, yeah, and in writing you always feel like I'm the author, I'm the expert, I can't have beginner's mind. But if you're painting a rock like you got to have beginner's mind right, you can just like painting a rock.
Speaker 1:And so we got to get back to that having fun, letting the creativity Do you remember when you were younger, because I know when I was younger we used to have a lot of fun. Yeah, we used to play and play kickball and softball and dodgeball and run around and bicycle. It just doesn't seem like it's as much fun for kids today. They're just so focused on technology and their phones that I think they're missing the world. But I don't have kids. I don't have. I'm not giving parental advice at all, but I am saying that you know I can, you can see it. You know it's a different place. It's so busy, everything's crazy.
Speaker 2:It's so busy. And it's busy in that mind because if you're on this all the time, your mind's going all the time just to keep up and you don't have that breath do you take vacations all the time?
Speaker 1:I love to travel me too, I love. I don't take vacations though yet, but I mean I do go to events all over the place. I'm still in that learning phase of it. I want to learn from everyone, but I do feel soon I really just need to take like a month off and just relax. Where's your favorite place?
Speaker 2:to go. I do both. Well, I'm in colorado, so I like to go to the beach. Yeah, so I go to go to Mexico sometimes, or Costa Rica or Bahamas or wherever you know. I've been to Europe a lot. I'm going to Greece this fall. I've never been to Greece, so that'll be fun. I've been all over the US and some Canada.
Speaker 1:You ever been to Pittsburgh, where I live?
Speaker 2:I don't think I have been to.
Speaker 1:Pittsburgh, hmm. I'll see if, and show you the amazingness of Pittsburgh. There's pretty cool things. So what's the biggest takeaway? You hope that our listeners will learn from you today If you could give them a piece of advice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a couple of things. If you're feeling a call or a nudge to write a book or be more visible, put yourself out there. Then it's your job to answer that call, because you've been given that nudge. The question is, how do you do it safely? So many of us don't feel safe putting ourselves out there, and so I like to create a safe space where you can, you know, make steps. Put yourself out there, write what you want to write, have a good editor that'll have your back, but if you've got that nudge, it's yours to do so. Don't't ignore, because you'll just keep regretting that another year went by and you didn't do anything about it?
Speaker 1:yeah, because once you're, once you're gone, you can't come back right. So how can our listeners find you online, social media?
Speaker 2:yeah, easiest way is michellecoachescom. That's michelle with two l's and that goes to my personal website, which leads to my writing workshop site and my publishing site and all my social and come find me. I mostly hang out on Facebook, but I am on Instagram and TikTok, and so I think we even post book covers on Pinterest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or most places, I'm most places. Linkedin, yeah.
Speaker 1:One thing I didn't tell you that I was a graphic designer prior to owning a real estate company, nice. I have designed a few book covers, one for Carnegie Library of Homestead here in Pittsburgh, and it was such a cool thing. It's crazy. Years later, when I pull it out, there's this big article about Andrew Carnegie, who then is, you know, thinking, which is a part of my life. I'm now in a Pullian Hill Institute coach, and so it's funny how it all comes around Like I designed that book and I love book covers.
Speaker 1:I think book covers are the funnest things to design.
Speaker 2:I love that, so yeah, I just wanted to share that with you. So is there anything?
Speaker 1:else you want them to learn about you before we go.
Speaker 2:So if you're hanging out on Facebook, come to the Author Path P-A-T-H on Facebook. I do tons of free trainings over there and connect and give advice if people want it. You know that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:One of my someone that was on my podcast a couple of about a month ago. He was wrongly convicted for 16 years and he could probably write a really great book, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's a good story.
Speaker 1:He came out, became a lawyer, and it's a really good story.
Speaker 2:So I might have to connect the two of you. That'd be amazing.
Speaker 1:I think you would like him. He's really about helping other people and, yeah, a lot of good. I just feel like I'm attracting such amazing people to this podcast and I don't know how it's happening, but I'm finding people from all over the world and I love it so thank you for sharing your journey and insights today. Your passion and expertise in publishing world are truly inspiring to all of us.
Speaker 1:To our listeners remember to connect with Michelle and learn more about her work at Grace Point Publishing, and don't forget to like, subscribe and share Shine on Success with anyone going through adversity. If we can just help one person, this podcast is a success. Thank you, Michelle. I really appreciate it.
