Successful Sistas Interview post of Susan Winlaw

Successful Sistas Interview post of Susan Winlaw

 

It is my distinct pleasure to present the March Feature Friday interviewee, Susan Winlaw, President of BAM Press, speaker, editor and author. Early retirement did not make this enterprising woman rest on her laurels, instead she created a new career and became an author of 4 books and a sought after speaker. Learn more about how Susan is flourishing in life and helping others do the same.

Please tell us a little about your background and any the projects that you’re currently working on.

I just love life and I hope to be able to encourage others to live a life in JOY. For the past 6 years (since I took early retirement from a 32 year retailing/management career at Sears Canada Inc) I’ve worked with my writer/husband and we’ve created and published 4 books. Our first one gave assistance to the female driver. It’s content is very serious and I did some speaking engagements on the topic of “Car Advice For Women (and Smart Men)”. It came out just in time for the recession to hit and the automotive industry almost collapsed in North America. So we wondered what might also help women, but be a bit lighter in conversation and came up with a series of themed movie guide books.

So far we’ve done 3 of more than 20 titles that we have going. Not all of them focus on women, but the majority do. Movies About Weddings was our first and it came out near the end of 2010. We produced Movies About Women (volume 1) and Movies About Christmas in mid 2011 and I just love watching any kind of movie that portrays women in a strong role. Currently we’re creating our first eBooks – one is a subset of our movie books and is titled “101 Movies About Women Directed By Women”.

The second one takes out car safety guide, updates some info and adds many more safety elements and is titled “How To Avoid Deadly Everyday Dangers – The Women’s Safety Guide”. It’s exciting but a bit nerve wracking with all of the technical knowledge I need to learn. My target date for both books is March 8th in time for International Women’s Day. What better way to provide safety and relaxation to women on that day.
** Update: we had some technical issues and are now targeting April 1 for the release. **

What advice would you give someone that wants to start a business like yours?

Keep your paying day job until your business is making enough money to pay the financial nut you have to pay. And secondly, go the eBook route first before doing a physical book. Be well financed or chose one of the many print-on-demand publishers that exist now so you don’t have to store your inventory. Be prepared to spend enough time on Social Media and physical networking to build up your connection list and develop the relationships that it takes to do well in business today.

What is the best business advice you’ve received?
Define your ideal customer up front, get to know them, hang out where they do and then be focused on your customer needs in creating your product. As you go, build your social media friends and connections based on that customer and work on the relationships daily.

Tell us about some of your greatest accomplishments in life.
1. Creating a wonderful and loving life with my husband of over 36 years and with my siblings, their kids and their kids’ kids. Yes that makes me a great-aunt. Spreading that love to every person I meet in life – whether that person is a high powered executive or the homeless guy who is always outside our local drugstore. They are all the same to me and deserve to have their stories heard.

2. Creating our books so far and knowing I learned it all from scratch and all that after age 50.

3. Producing many shawls and lapghans for the various senior centers in the area and crocheted squares to our crochet guild for a program called warming families. They are all made with love poured in as they are constructed and that love comes out and hugs the recipient in their time of trouble.

4. Providing computer education for a system that scared a lot of long term HR managers across Canada and having many of them come up to me after and say that they actually felt more relaxed with what they had to do now with the new fangled technology. It’s hard for many of us to realize but there are still many women who don’t know how to use a mouse and are terrified they’ll break something if they tackle it.

5. Providing constant encouragement to all of my friends in person and on line when they are feeling down and helping them turn it around to find a solution to a piece of what was troubling them.

If you could choose any mentor (money being no object), who would it be and why?
In the Internet Marketing area it would be Kathleen Gage. She walks her talk and has consistently delivered top notch education for both newbies and experienced folk alike.

In Networking my mentor would be Sandra Yancey who started and runs the eWomenNetwork and as a local mentor in the same group, I am lucky enough to have Mary Morassutti as our Toronto Chapter Director. These women are amazing in their knowledge and generosity of spirit. The organization is filled with women who could mentor me and I just have not met them yet.

In Book Marketing my mentor would be Dvorah Lansky and Lynnette Phillips from the facebook group Book Marketing Made Easy. Both women provide excellent ideas to help all of the members of the group to grow and make the best of all of the tools at our fingertips.

And as a Personal Mentor I look above to my wonderful Mother. She left this earthly world almost 4.5 years ago but she is with me everywhere I am. When I want to get serious with myself and find a role model to emulate, it is Mom that I see and hear for all of the lessons she gave over her whole life.

What’s your favorite quote or mantra?
That person can only hurt me if I let them. (I don’t know who first coined it, but it was my Mom who taught it to me. The mantra saves me from taking offense so easily when I hear something that barbs. And I tend to hear the other person’s point of view more than if I take offense. I believe the world would be a much better place if people lived by that ideal.

How do you market your business?
On a limited budget, you have to market very creatively and I use Social Media and personal contact for most of my marketing.
Our web presence is next and I have to employ some information I just received on how to improve the SEO elements.
I attend events like trade shows and always engage the booth vendors in real conversation rather than just exchanging business cards. To this point, it is crucial to have business cards.
I am present in coffee shops with my laptop open and working and our books on the table in front of me.
I do guest appearances on local cable channel shows and blog radio shows whenever possible.

Where can we find more about your business?
Our Web sites are http://bampress.com and http://moviesaboutwomen.com and http://moviesaboutweddings.com
And you can connect with me personally through facebook, LinkedIn and twitter
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/susanwinlaw

One of our pages on facebook is https://www.facebook.com/pages/Books-About-the-Movies/116572601722858
LinkedIn http://ca.linkedin.com/in/susanwinlaw
Twitter https://twitter.com/Movies_Women and https://twitter.com/Movies_Weddings

Susan Winlaw – President BAM Press
Author/Speaker/Publisher/Editor
Movies About Women – Reel Women Share Stories of Live and Love
http://moviesaboutwomen.com
Movies About Weddings – A Guide to 700+ Movies With Weddings
http://moviesaboutweddings.com
Movies About Christmas – Naughty or Nice? A Guide to over 400 Movies With Christmas
http://bampress.com
and in the safety line…..
Car Advice For Women (and Smart Men)
http://www.caradviceforwomen.com
Coming Soon…………Safety Advice For Women

One Yonge Street, Suite 1801,
Toronto, ON, Canada, M5E 1W7
VMail & FAX 416-981-3404

About the Author of this interview:

Bianca B. King is the President of Seven5 Seven3 Marketing Group, a Dallas, Texas based B2B boutique marketing firm dedicated to helping small businesses reach their potential. As the Founder and President of Seven5 Seven3 Marketing Group, she has been featured in several on and offline publications, including JET Magazine, One Million Entrepreneurs.com, National Association of Women on the Rise and Brand Maker News.com. She is also the founder of Successful Sistas, an online community/blog that provides an environment that fosters friendship, networking and the support of women in business. Bianca has over 15 years of marketing experience and holds and MBA in eCommerce Marketing.