Mary Griffin: On Writing

Interview with Mary Griffin

Sometimes the best decisions and lessons learned come from taking leaps of faith and just trying something new. That’s what happened with me when I agreed to help my dad (Brian Smith) write the “I” in Team series of books. 

When I was attending college in California and earning my bachelor’s degree in English literature with a minor in psychology, I had no idea what I was really doing with my life. I chose my courses because I liked the professors in those tracks and I wanted to keep learning from and with them. 

After I graduated, I moved to Washington D.C. for three years and, after receiving my esthetician’s license from Aveda, tried a potential career as a lash technician. I quickly realized it wasn’t the right path for me and was back at square one: What do I do with my life? 

In late 2017, I became a fulltime team member at my father’s company, IA Business Advisors. I started out writing blogs, social media, and website copy. Then, in early 2018, my dad approached me with an idea: Writing a book series (the “I” in Team series) to help individuals (leaders and aspiring) learn about the power of their influence. Honestly, at the time, I had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew that I loved helping people and I was good at writing. I accepted the invitation and became heavily invested in learning more about leadership development, influence, and what it means to work for a company and be a team member. 

We were able to write this series packed with tools and stories from real life experiences. Through the wisdom and practices embedded in IA Business Advisors, we had the knowledge necessary to help others learn what it means to be an influence. If you don’t understand the power of your influence, then you won’t be able to keep good people around you. 

The writing process was long and arduous. A large portion of it consisted of me taking my dad’s old journals (which were handwritten) and typing out all his notes. This wasn’t always an easy task, but it was very rewarding; there is something very intimate about reading people’s handwritten notes. From there, I compiled and organized the notes into thoughts that could create chapters and sections. 

We went back and forth for months, editing, writing, editing some more. We also asked some trusted family members and colleagues to provide their feedback on our manuscript. Their insights were invaluable, and once we felt happy with the writing, we asked our graphic designer to create the cover. 

In the first edition of our first two books in the series, we self-published. We had no idea what we were doing or how to market a book, but we made our way. There were days that were immensely frustrating and days that felt like a breeze, but in October 2018 we finally published the first edition of our first book. 

Our first PR team really helped us understand how to gain more visibility in the book marketing space. We were successful with our campaign, but we knew we wanted to partner with a publisher. Nonetheless, we continued to work on edition one of book two, which we published in March 2021. It was much later than we anticipated, but we tend to be perfectionists. 

For this second book release, we worked with the same PR team and expressed interest in working with a professional publishing house. It was something we worked to manifest for ourselves. We spoke to several different people, but none felt right. Then we met Bryan and DeeDee Heathman at Made For Success. We knew right away that they were the team that would help us re-release the entire series as a second edition. The third book in the series is still being written. 

My dad and I spent countless more hours with book one, Individual Influence: Find the “I” in Team, adding chapters and removing redundant writing. We worked closely with Made For Success’s editors, and together, we published our first book as a second edition in July 2022. 

All the while, we were also hard at work on the second release of our second book, Positive Influence: Be the “I” in Team, which we released in April 2023. The “I” in Team series helps people figure out what their influence is or what they want their influence to be. It teaches them how to exude that influence into the world and monitor its impact, and provides the tools needed to build the life of prosperity that they define for themselves. 

And that is why I said yes to helping write this series with my father. I know that we can help people and that they will garner a few new tools for themselves and to teach to others. It only takes one spark to ignite a fire. 

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Mary Griffin is Associate Advisor at IA Business and co-author with her father, Brian Smith, of the “I” in Team series of books. Learn more at IABusinessAdvisors.com. 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing