This time last year when I was writing my review of 2022, I mentioned it was difficult to find the words. If I thought that was the case then, well December 2022 Nicola had NO idea 😵💫
2023 has felt hard for a lot of the time. Like an initiation.
And I know I’m not alone in that.
It’s also been powerful. I’ve made some big changes and got clearer than ever on my vision.
But man. There have been so many times this year when I wondered what the point was.
And I know part of that for me was down to…
Menopause
Yep. After spending the past few years thinking I got off pretty much scot free*, in 2023 I finally got the meno memo.
* Side note: I just looked up where the expression ‘scot free’ comes from and it’s medieval England if you’re interested.
My last bleed was around 3 years ago and apart from a few seasons of hot flashes, I haven’t experienced any other menopausal ‘symptoms’. But this summer I started to feel anxious and low. I was on the train up to London for a photo shoot when the penny dropped that my new-found lack of confidence could be due to the menopause.
It was actually quite a relief to make sense of how I’d been feeling – uninspired, doubting myself, insular. Having the awareness didn’t make the feelings go away, but I began looking at ways of supporting myself. I got myself some natural progesterone cream (which seems to have made a big difference over the time I’ve been using it) and also gave myself permission to change plans when I needed to.
Talking of changing plans, this year was…
The 5th anniversary of The Unbound Press
And as 2023 began I was fully intending to create a series of in-person events to celebrate. It was going to be Unbound on Tour! 🚌
The plan was to have events around the UK and also in New York with groups of our authors at each one. It would have been great, wouldn’t it?
But as the year progressed, I realised I personally just wasn’t in a place to be able to organise and promote these kind of events. So, I had to take a step back and decide they weren’t going to happen.
I know we’ll be organising more in-person gatherings at some point, but 2023 wasn’t the year.
That didn’t stop us celebrating our 5th anniversary with this epic podcast episode and the annual Unbound Book-Writing Challenge.
Speaking of which…
Changing up offerings
For the past couple of years, the Unbound Writing Challenge had been a paid offering (pay-what-you-choose with a suggested donation). In 2023 I felt called to offer it for free again.
At the beginning of the year, we tuned into the values we hold at The Unbound Press and one of those is generosity. At a time when so many are struggling financially, it felt even more important to make our offerings more accessible.
2023 was also the year when I discovered the amazing Evelyn Weiss and the idea of mini-memberships. I saw her talk on Elizabeth Goddard’s Low Ticket Live summit and I loved her approach. It felt generous and expansive.
Back at the beginning of 2022 during a powerful breathwork session with Kathy ‘Fucking’ Bell, I received the messsage to ‘give everything away’. At the time it inspired me to offer the Unbound Book Incubator on a pay-what-you-choose basis, but landing on the idea of a mini membership helped me see how we could shift our business model at The Unbound Press.
Yes, we would still offer done-for-you publishing packages as the core of our offerings. But after over a year of thinking about it, I decided to retire the Unbound Writing Mastermind which had been my signature book-writing offer for 5+ years and replace it with a series of lower cost options:
The Unbound Writer’s Club Mini Membership – a space for those who want to carve out dedicated time for their writing in community. (£7 per month or £55 for a founding member annual pass when you join by December 31st 2023)
Birth Your Transformational Book group program – the first unbound program to take soul-led, aspiring authors from first idea to book out in the world (including how to DIY the publishing process), with 12 months of coaching support. (12 instalments of £77 per month, or pay-in-full for £777 and save £147)
The Abundant Author Academy – a new membership coming in March 2024. (I should have set up a waitlist, but I’ve run out of steam, so just message me if you want to be amongst the first to know!)
On that note…
Abundant Authors
At the end of 2022 I’d felt called to offer a new Abundant Author Mastermind and pretty much as soon as I put the idea out there, 5 magical beings said ‘yes’.
We started the 9-month journey in February and before long, the AAM became a group of 3, like a very unbound Charlie’s Angels. (I’m not sure if I’m Bosley or Charlie in this scenario?)
I thought (and we all thought) this Mastermind would be one thing – the invitation had been to spend the year creating and launching an offering around your writing that would generate a 5-figure income – but we went way deeper.
The whole year felt like an exploration of what abundance actually IS. Each woman in the group went on a powerful journey around this. As did I.
Quite why I was surprised about this, I don’t know.
I mean, the book I’m writing right now is called The Abundant Author as well, so of COURSE I was going to have to get intimate with the true nature of abundance.
What this meant for me was being invited to trust, over and over again, when my logical mind was telling me abundance was NOT present. Honestly 2023 was one of the most challenging financially since The Unbound Press began and there were times when it felt like the flow had dried up completely. This was a big part of this year’s initiation for me. (I’d conveniently forgotten that when you choose to write about something, you get to go on a transformative journey with that particular THING.)
Towards the end of the year, around The Unbound Press’s 5th anniversary, something big shifted and the flow opened up again. I’d obviously learned what I needed to!
And we each ended the year in the Abundant Author Mastermind feeling grateful for the ‘lessons’.
So I’ve talked about some of the challenges of 2023, but what about the highlights? Here are just a few…
Getting to speak on stage at Suzy Ashworth’s Quantum Shift event at BAFTA, as part of her success panel. This event was epic and I got to connect with friends, new and old.
A flying visit to Skerries in Ireland for Patricia Langton’s book launch. I couldn’t get over how magical this place was and Trish is the best company!
Co-hosting the Unbound Writing Wilding Retreat in West Wales with the magical Angie Brierheart. This intimate experience fills my well every year.
Hanging out at Kew Gardens on a VIP Day with my amazing client, Pearl Jordan. It might have rained ALL day, but that didn’t stop us creating big magic.
The closing calls in the Unbound Writing Mastermind. Actually every call in the Mastermind was a highlight, but when we came together at the end of the year to close our the silver circle of light, tears of gratitude were shed.
Of course, there are MANY more highlights – this is just a taste of what was a magical and twisty-turny year.
Let’s see what 2024 has in store…
The year in numbers:
New authors signed to The Unbound Press: 13
Books Released: 14
Revenue to Date: £107,217
Podcast Episodes: 39
Invested in:
Lisa Johnson’s One to Many program (I made the decision to join Lisa’s signature program back in March because I was curious to see what approach she was teaching. I also thought it might be a program I could recommend to unbound writers who were at the beginning of their online business journeys. It gives you a lot of the basics, but I found it too linear for my unbound tastes!)
Evelyn Weiss’ Coaching Membership Method (I mentioned earlier that I discovered Evelyn’s work this year and pretty soon after I invested in her flagship group program. Actually this one is really linear too, BUT her approach is much more detailed and nuanced and the support she offers is off-the-charts.)
How you can be involved in 2024:
Find out more about how you can become an author with us at The Unbound Press with one of our 2024 publishing packages here.
Join the Birth Your Transformational Book group program before the end of 2023 and receive a complimentary 1:1 30-minute session with me (value £111).
Be part of The Unbound Writer’s Club Membership for just £7 per month (or access a founding member annual pass for £55 when you join by December 31st).
