Meet Stacy C. Bauer

We were lucky to catch up with Stacy C. Bauer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Stacy C. , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
As the oldest daughter of 3, I was raised to never give up. I’ve always strived to do my best and work hard. I saw my parents do this as I was growing up and followed in their footsteps. As I got older, I followed my dreams of becoming a teacher and then a published author. I knew what I wanted and didn’t give up until it happened.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Have you ever had a childhood dream? Did you go for it? I’ve loved books ever since I can remember and have had a life-long dream of becoming a published author. I am also passionate about children and teaching, so I attended the University of Minnesota and became a teacher. I began my teaching career at the middle school in Columbia Heights. I got married, had a couple kids, moved out to East Bethel and continued teaching in Ham Lake. 15 years went by and I taught everything from kindergarten through eighth grade. I have truly loved being a teacher, however my dream of being a published author was always in the back of my mind. In 2017, I was teaching part-time and home with my young son and I saw an opportunity to try to follow my dream. I decided to write a book series based on the antics of my children and wrote a rough draft of the first story. Then I sat there, not knowing what to do next. I reached out to family and friends asking if anyone knew a published author and a couple of them did. One author told me good luck- that traditional publishing is a competitive and tricky business and it’ll take years to get published, if I ever do. The other author introduced me to self publishing.

What followed was a crash course in publishing, marketing and small business- none of which I knew anything about. In the years since, I have started my own publishing company, Hop Off the Press and self published 11 books. I have helped hundreds of aspiring authors get published, which the teacher in me loves. I have sold about 70,000 books and am currently launching a new book series about kids around the world making a difference, which the mom and teacher in me loves, because their stories bring hope to the world.

Being a self published author is hard work. I have spent hours and hours and a LOT of money learning the business and marketing my books. I work long hours, sometimes well into the night. I have had to take risks and really put myself out there, which is hard for me, since I’m a frugal introvert. But, my dream came true. I am a published author. I am so grateful to have been able to do the three things I’ve always wanted since I was a child: to be a mom, a teacher and an author. Life is so short. Are you doing what you’re passionate about? What is your dream? Take a step to follow it today!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Risk taking- if I hadn’t pushed myself out of my comfort zone, none of this would have happened. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and get uncomfortable!

2. Determination- I’m extremely stubborn when I want something. I will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Don’t give up when things get hard.

3. Patience- this is a hard one for me- it doesn’t come naturally. I have to work at being patient. And I had to learn that I can’t control other people’s timelines, shipping delays and Amazon glitches.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I have fibromyalgia (chronic pain) and anxiety/depression, so that causes major obstacles for me. It makes me tired, because I don’t sleep well. I am also a perfectionist, so I tend to work work work until I think it’s perfect- which is impossible. Nothing can be perfect. I’m working on letting things go. I try to balance work/family/spiritual life by working for a few hours each day (scheduled if I can), exercise (I recently started yoga), pray (I’m a Christian), listen to music, read and do other things I enjoy for no other reason than for FUN, spend time with my family, walk the dog etc. When I get completely stressed and overwhelmed, it’s usually because I’m trying to do everything myself and I’m trying to do it perfectly. I’m trying to be more aware of that, take a step back, breathe, and take a break.

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