May 28, 2024

 

What is your area of expertise or focus and who do you help?  

I’m a book coach. Specifically, I help coaches, speakers, experts, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders with writing, completing, publishing, and marketing their books. I’m also happy to help any fiction writers or anybody else in any other genre. Basically, I’ll help anybody get to the first draft in six months or less. When it comes to editing, I’ve got some people I can turn fiction writers over to. My joy and the thing I get really excited about is helping non-fiction writers make a difference in other people’s lives. And we do that through our books.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 

I am launching my book next year, April 2025. It’s called ‘Again, Only More Like You.’ That’s been my passion project and the thing that started me on this whole trajectory of being a book coach and editor. As I was writing the book, I started going on a personal development journey. So, I started getting exposed to the coaching community. From there, I started coaching other people, volunteering, and contributing to the community. A lot of people in that space wanted to write books and started reaching out to me for support and mentorship and guidance. That ultimately led me to book coaching and book editing.

I’m married and I’ve been with my partner for 29 years. I’ve got four kids that are my muse, they keep me in check. I’m a personal development junkie. I just can’t get enough of this stuff. I love it. And I love the people that I work with. I’m now diving into speaking more, so spending more time in speaking communities and learning about that craft, which is fascinating. I’ve just learned so much from every single one of my clients. It’s like stepping into the matrix and I plug in and they teach me everything they know as I help them with their books, so it’s truly the best job in the whole world.

I’m also the host of Passion Project, a podcast about making your dreams happen. But that’s on hiatus right now as I focus on my business and book launch. 

What do you find to be the most rewarding thing about being a coach?

The rewarding thing for me is just helping these people make their dreams come true because each one of them is so gorgeous and so beautiful. They’re such beautiful souls, and I find most of them are in a transition in their careers where they’re really doing things that are from the heart. They are sharing their gifts, all the knowledge they’ve accumulated through all the years, and they’re just so committed to helping people. I get goosebumps just thinking about it and being a part of that. 

I have a client and he’s been a very long time coming. I started with him years ago at a completely different rate. All kinds of things have been happening in his life. So you know, there’s the tension of always holding my clients to high standards and being an accountability partner for them, but also having grace for them and encouraging them to have grace for themselves when life happens. With some clients, they’re going to take longer than we had planned, but I still want to be there. I don’t want to give up on them. He’s an example. We’re about two or three years in. Yesterday, he just shared how grateful he was and almost came to tears saying “Thank you for giving me the space to move through the things I was moving through, but always nudging me and if it weren’t for you, this book would never happen because you’re always there waiting for me and I know you’re waiting for it.” That was a really rewarding and beautiful moment for me.

What is the most challenging thing about being a coach? 

I think a lot of coaches may be able to relate to this. But for me, it’s scaling. Scaling is one of the challenges I’m in right now. It comes with the beautiful thing of having gotten so many people who want to work with you that you no longer have to work so hard on getting the word out because people are just flocking to you. But on the flip side of that, everybody wants a piece of you. And there’s only so much to go around. Especially when the kids are like “You’re always working” which breaks my heart. So that’s why I’m building a team. But, it’s also a learning process. What are other people good at that I can use them for? What is in my zone of genius? What do I get to stick to and what can I release to other people? That’s what’s been our process so far to figure out.

What are some of your top tips for starting, running, and growing a coaching business?

Number one is just do your best and you can put that out. I just do the best job I can do for every single person because they will feel it. Sometimes I feel like I’ve fallen short because I’m still learning right? I actually went back to a client yesterday and emailed her saying, “I wish I could have done more for you. I didn’t know this much about book launches and book marketing back then, when we were working together. Can we get on a call, I think we can still make this book work harder for you.” I don’t expect her to sign up as a client anymore. I just want to do more to help her in a way that I didn’t know to do back then but all this is to say that I just go to the ends of the earth for them. I go way over my time, I go way over my effort. I really feel like we’ve got these really strong relationships that last forever, and I continue to serve them, long after the project is done. So I’d say as far as growing a business, that’s number one. Just do the best job you can because they will become your champions and your advocates and your sales team. 

Number two would be to always be learning. I never intended to do book launches and book marketing. I just want my clients to succeed. I got to learn more about that so that I didn’t leave them hanging. 

And then number three would be that there comes a time when you’re going to have to split off, scale, and delegate some of your responsibilities. The really cool thing I found through this experience is that I’m learning that my team has a lot of cool experiences that make them able to give so much more than I even expected.

I really just follow my intuition when it comes to a lot of things. Like, my project manager. We’ve known each other for many years. She actually freelanced for me many years ago. So, I reached out, and I heard her talk about her kids and I’m like if you can organize me the way you’ve got your kids. We’re going to do amazing.

Where can people find you and your business? 

My book ‘Again, Only More Like You,’ published by Rising Action, is arriving in bookstores in April 2025. Sign up for my newsletter at catmargulis.com to follow along on my book launch journey, and for inspiration, tips and upcoming workshops on writing and publishing your book.

You can find out more about me on my website. I’m also active on both Linkedin and Instagram.