We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Heather Hildenbrand. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Heather below.

Heather, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I would love to see our education system prioritize passion over responsibility. Unfortunately, there’s this lingering sense of separation between how we earn an income and what we do for fun that seems a carryover from decades past. In my experience, generating income is never easier or more fulfilling than when I’m doing it from a place of creativity, passion, and enjoyment. Young people today are starting to see that too but we need to be better stewards and facilitators, offering more opportunities and information to our students about all of the possibilities that exist today in terms of career paths. Being successful AND fulfilled has never been easier!

Heather, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

After going through a rough personal time, I wrote and subsequently published my first book 11 year ago, and honestly, I’ve never looked back. As a stay-at-home mom, I was itching for something I could have just for me. And it turned out, my stories were the perfect outlet. Back then, self-publishing was fairly new and spreading like wildfire. I had no idea what any of it meant but luckily had a friend in the business who gently pushed (shoved) me in the right direction.

Since then, I’ve published over 50 romance titles, some self-published and some with publishers, and am constantly in gratitude for the chance to work from home doing what I love. Stories are, historically, a way for humanity to connect. I never get tired of the messages from readers telling me what they loved about my stories and what will stay with them for years to come.

After a decade of building a successful business of my own, I also offer business coaching for creatives using a unique blend of strategizing and energy work because one thing I’ve learned about artists is that we are all coming from a place of feeling. And those feelings are sometimes the very thing holding us back.

These days, I split my time between writing, working with other creatives, and collaborative projects. That’s the thing about being a creator–there’s always something new and fun to create!

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I am all about multiple income streams. The thing I love most about my author business is that my stories are immortal. And that means, I’m essentially building something that will outlast me. Something I can pass on to my family. The best way to really create something lasting like that is to diversify my income. For me, that looks like writing a book and then monetizing that one book in several ways. For example, that book will be published as an e-book, paperback, audiobook, and from there I can license it on reading apps to be read in serial format, or I can translate it into another language and publish it in a foreign market. In a perfect world, that book is also turned into a TV show or movie. All of these are multiple streams of income for something I created once.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A few years ago, a friend and I started a publishing company. We are both successful authors in our own right and each have a passion for wanting to help others succeed too. We’ve been in the business long enough to know the process and what it would take to help shape stories and put them out into the world. But even with all of that background, we underestimated the amount of work that would be needed. For two years, we both balanced our own author business alongside this fledgling publishing company. By the time my business partner came to me ready to throw in the towel, I already knew it was coming. In the end, we closed the doors of the company in order to focus on our own careers. It was tough because it was letting go of something I’d put years of hard work into. But knowing when to quit something is such a crucial skill. I learned so many lessons in that season. In fact, all of the best lessons I’ve learned came from failure.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.heatherhildenbrand.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherhildenbrandauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherHildenbrandAuthor

Image Credits
Olivia Sandoval (credit for first picture only)