We recently connected with Tawny Lara and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Tawny, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear you experience with and lessons learned from recruiting and team building.
My business didn’t have employees from day one; just me and my anxiety. I’m a writer and a podcaster who wears a bunch of hats, juggling a bunch of things. A friend of mine, who is in a similar line of work, then mentioned she had just hired a personal assistant and how much it helped her out even for a few hours a week and I was intrigued. I then used the same database my friend used and I found my amazing assistant, Sarah. We recently celebrated one year of working together. She is a huge help in my personal and professional life! I wanted to see what else I could outsource to reduce my stress, while creating space for me to make more money doing the things I actually want to do. I went back to that same database to find my fabulous social media manager, Anne. If I were to start over today I would have given myself grace earlier in my career. I tried to learn how to do everything. I felt like I needed to learn how to do graphic design, audio engineering, and this, and that. Then I realized it doesn’t behoove me to know how to do a bunch of things in an average way. I am a writer and a podcaster and those are things I’m good at doing. I found 2 great people who are f*cking good at their jobs and they’re able to make my life easier so I can focus on making more money doing what I want to do, while living a balanced life.
Tawny, 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?
I’m an NYC-based millennial also known as The Sober Sexpert. I’m writing a book called Dry Humping: a Guide to Booze-Free Sex, Dating, and Relationships (Quirk, Summer 2023). My work is featured in Playboy, Men’s Health, Huffington Post, and two essay collections: Sex and the Single Woman (Harper Perennial 2022) and The Addiction Diaries (LaunchPad 2020). I’m also the co-host of Recovery Rocks podcast and story developer for the Webby-award winning podcast, F*cking Sober.
I started out writing for my local newspaper at 14. I moved to New York in 2015 to pursue writing professionally. I help clients get their book proposals together and help emerging writers learn more about the pitching process, how to get published in magazines, how to get a book deal, and decoding the confusing publishing industry.
I’m most proud of giving up alcohol because once I gave that up everything seemed to get better. Sobriety isn’t perfect but life is a lot better, happier, healthier, more fulfilling, and more successful since I gave up alcohol.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
My writing career began writing for my school newspaper and then moved to random publications getting paid in concert tickets or other swag, if there was any compensation at all. Then I would get excited when I got $50 for an article and then $75, and then $100, and now I don’t take on freelance writing assignments for less than $500. My biggest milestone would be my bylines like getting published by Playboy, Men’s Health, Writers Digest, and ultimately getting a book deal!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I would say, Jane Friedman, The Business of Being a Writer. She has a great skill in breaking down the writing industry. She is a fantastic resource for writers in all parts of their creative journey whether they’re just starting or they’re writing their 4th book.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tawnylara.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tawnymlara/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tawny-lara-11201149/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TawnyMLara?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tawnymlara