Why did I write it?

Have you ever thought about writing a book? I hadn’t really thought about it at all, until recently when my coach told me that she wanted me to do public speaking. She also said that speaking engagements are more effective if you are a published author. This made me think. What would I write about and who would be interested in reading, or even buying my book? This is despite me writing tons of content for many years.

I remember when going back to school after moving to NYC from Sweden at the age of 29, my English was poor to say the least. It was so bad that when I was studying, whether in class or doing homework, I spent more time looking up words in the dictionary than studying the subject itself. This was way before smartphones, so I actually had to schlep a dictionary around. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking that this is probably why math and statistics were my favorite subjects since they are the same in any language and don’t require a dictionary. Although, math always came naturally to me even in grade school.

When I started my career in finance, my first position required me to write. I’m not talking internal emails, but financial reports and newsletters on behalf of the firm to clients. With the help of not one, but three (one in this picture) extremely patient mentors who tirelessly corrected my papers, reports, and newsletters, my English got better. Both my verbal and written English are still works in progress though.

When Mark J. Foley and I started The Folson Group , we switched gears from writing about the stock market to writing about building operations and various property management and co-op and condo issues. Topics ranged from fa?ade repairs, gym installations, cost reduction tips, to best practices on the various issues that go into community living. Not until I started working with coaches in 2020 did we start writing on a daily basis. Posting weekly on our website was also been recommended by our amazing SEO gal Marcie Lord at Digital Dynamo.

Back to why I wrote a book. I could dig deeper and try to figure it out, but I am a more practical type of person who prefers to take action and move forward towards greater opportunities. It could be something deeper than this, but bottom line is that I want to do a Ted Talk.

Public speaking does not come easy to me. I used to be terrified of public speaking, but with lots of practice, coaching and groups, the fear has diminished. Although I know exactly where that fear came from, that’s a discussion for another day; or not.?? My plan for the Ted Talk is to talk about the importance of taking a proactive role in community living to make coop and condo owners’ buildings safer, more sustainable and more affordable.

To keep me accountable, I have been telling people in my network that my goal is to do a Ted Talk. Some of my mentors recommended that before I do a Ted Talk, I should have a book. So I joined a writer’s circle, got myself an amazing book coach, put it on my calendar, blocked out two hours per day to write it, and started writing. If you missed my post about the book launch, check it out here .

I worked with a wonderful editor Karin Wiberg who not only edited it, but also did all the publishing, registration, copywriting, and setting it all up on Amazon and Good Reads for optimal visibility. If you need an editor, I highly recommend her!

So, here we are, I wrote a book. I am now a published author of Living the High Life: How Smart Co-op and Condo Owners Protect Themselves and Their Investment, available on 亚马逊 .

You can get the first chapter here .

Follow these amazing leaders and readers of Meridith Grundei ? and Chris Vaglio ?? !

You know how “they” always say that when you have fear of doing something, it’s normally rooted from something that happened when we were young. In my case, the only thing from my childhood that I can think would prevent me from writing a book is that we never talked about it.

My grade school counselor told me that she thought that because I was such a great multitasker, I would make a great Air Traffic Controller. I took the test to become an Air Traffic Controller, passed the test, but it never worked out because of poor timing. When I went back to school in NYC, my statistics professor told me that I was an exceptional statistician. Who wouldn’t listen to that? Being told that you’re exceptional at something brings a lot of confidence. So naturally when I worked in the financial services industry, I focused on statistics and analytics.

Becoming a published author was never talked about in my family growing up, but when my mentors mentioned it, it made perfect sense.

Bottom line – the first step in anything that we do is to plant a seed. The seed that I hope to plan in all coop and condo owners’ minds is the importance of getting involved in your community to make it a safer and better place to live, which in effect protects your investment.

What seed are you planting today? Let me know in the comments.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tina Larsson is the co-founder and owner of?The Folson Group , a NYC coop and condo consultant specializing in increasing property values by cutting the buildings' costs. At The Folson Group, our goal is to inspire you to run your building like a business. We enable and inspire co-op or condo board engagements to be filled with a feeling of accomplishment, excitement, meaning, happiness, and increased probability of success.

For other best practices for co-op and condo boards, get our?FREE Policies and Procedures Checklist ?emailed straight to your inbox. Contact me directly at?[email protected] ?or call (917) 648-8151?