Season 3, Episode 79: I have BIG news!

Season 3, Episode 79

Nicole:

Y’all, friends, okay, so I am squeezing in this quick chat because I could not let another week go by without letting you know, major news, something that we all did together that I am crazy excited about.

So if you’ve been keeping up on social media, at Nicole Walters, on Instagram, on Facebook, all over, you know that I have been in the process of sharing everything about my new memoir that just hit shelves two weeks ago. It’s crazy to believe it’s even been that long already, on October 10, of 2023. The book is called Nothing is Missing, a memoir of living boldly. And it finally is in everyone’s hands. And all this season I’ve been talking about starting over, fresh starts and just everything that’s been going on in my life, whether it is starting over from my divorce or reconfiguring how I look at my business, to my relationship, all the things.

And this book is my fresh start manual, I was taking you back. So you could see from the beginning, growing up all the way forward to why I am here today and what I’ve learned, and how you can pull those learnings into your own life. And what’s been amazing is over the past two weeks, I’ve had an opportunity to meet, in real life, so many of you. We’ve been to New York, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and everywhere in between because that, you know, I was meeting y’all at the baggage claim, luggage carousel, like hugs real life everywhere. And it’s just been a dream, a dream. It’s part of why I’m sharing with you right now that this dream has been more than I could have wished for.

I asked all of you if you would help me by, whether it was grabbing a copy of this book for yourself, or grabbing one for you and a friend or as a gift, or inviting me to your book clubs or your churches. And the way that you showed up was just remarkable. And it was so remarkable, that I’m really proud to share that we are New York Times Best Sellers. With all the work, with all the… I’m actually trying not to cry. It’s so weird, because y’all this news is only like 10 days old. It’s like not even, it’s so… Oh, it’s like it’s 10 days old. And I’ve wanted to tell you first I mean, I’ve shared a little, you know, with my online squad. So some of you already saw this and you know, an email with the internet aunties, but it’s special to come to you and tell you now that we did! You know, we did it

The thing that I talked about before all of this started where I said, it was so important for me to be able to get out here and say that regular people can do big things, too because that’s what this book is about. That’s what our times here are about, that you can be regular, you know, you can be a mom with your babies who likes cheese and shopping at Target. And you don’t have to live a crazy sensational life, you don’t have to be so vulnerable to the point of being sensational, you know, you don’t have to put out all your junk and be gross, you don’t have to reveal every single detail about yourself in the most scandalous way. You literally can just speak your truth about your life, share your story. So respect the story of the people in your life, like, you know, our little internet tinies and my was-band and you know, my parents, and you know, all the people who inspired me, you can still share all of that, and be impactful. And make a difference. And change lives and honor yourself and honor God. And I’m just so thankful because you all met me in this moment. And because of that, we hit number nine on one of the hardest lists to hit, which is the advice/how to miscellaneous self help category, which is very popular, and it actually is only has like 10 spots out of you know, most of them have 15.

And when I tell you, truth moment, you know where we’re at, now we’re gonna get into the goods of it. I was being prepared by my team to not hit this list. Like, and I’ve been waiting to talk to you about this, I was being prepared, you know, everyone was trying to like cushion my expectations. They were all saying, you know, Nicole, it’s a very hard list to hit. And, you know, you’re doing really well with the numbers that are coming in but I just want you to also know that, you know, this doesn’t happen for a lot of new authors. And this doesn’t happen, you know, for memoirs, and this isn’t something that happens very often and, you know, it’s a very rare an unlikely thing and we just want you to know that we’re all rooting for you, you know, but we just want you to manage your expectations and I think and I’m just gonna Just a truth moment with with you all my friends here, part of that was because I was speaking it into existence. And so where y’all.

I mean, when I tell you every time I would do an interview or anything, I would say, look, this book is a future New York Times bestseller, not just because I say so but because God said so and because my internet Auntie besties have said so. We are collectively standing in agreement that this is what this is going to do. And I don’t need to have 4 million followers. I have the followers that count. I have the people that matter. These are my day ones. We’ve known each other for 10 years. I show up for them, they show up for me, like it is a thing we are in this together. And y’all when I tell you I kept trying to share this with everyone like I would tell them by team like, listen, I know how y’all are feeling. But I want to let you know that my people move differently. These are the people who helped me pick out potty seats for my babies. These are the people who when they saw I was going through my divorce transition, literally prayed over me sent me messages saying Nicole, we don’t know what all it is, but know that we are praying for you and covering you and knowing that change is going to come and we are excited to see you breakthrough. And these are the people that send me wedding invitations. And I send wedding gifts too. And that, you know, I have helped cheer their kids through nursing school and I have paid for summer camp. Like we have a relationship I get back to school pictures. Like this is not just a book for the general masses that I’ve never met before. Although I have to say it’s been really incredible to see people who have never known about our thing here, in our community, you know, like, it’s been so incredible to invite them into the fold. So if you’re a newbie, and you’re now in the fold, like welcome, welcome, welcome, because you are in on something great. Like, truly, we are a community that shows up for each other and has each other’s back through thick and thin. And through the changes and the ebbs and flows of life and our growth. We are literally here growing together.

And so when I said this, that, you know, they’re just kind of like Ah huh. Because typically, even the fancy people, you know, who have like, I mean, just to let you know, just a little side note, friends, we didn’t just hit the New York Times list like that’s the big fancy pants one that everyone talks about, we hit every list. I just wanna be really clear to let you know about that. Every single major list that’s out there, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Amazon Best Seller, book list, every single major list we charted on in the top 10, I believe, and definitely, if not the top 50. We made every single list. We were above people like Reba McIntyre. Do you know what I mean? Like we hit every list. And I say we because truly, it wasn’t me it was our community. Like we did this. And that’s how I’ve been saying it. I’m like y’all, do you understand? Do you understand what we can do? Do you see what we can do as a community? I just want you to sit in that with me and recognize what is possible when we mobilize the love, the support, the knowledge and the care of the people who’ve been with us since day one.

And I’m just so grateful. I’m so grateful for you. Because this is as meaningful, if not maybe a smidge less meaningful than you helping me pick out the potty seat. I just know that we are really in it together. And we are just one big family. And I’m so grateful. And I also want to tell you about a special moment that happened on the tour. So the very first tour stop that we did was in New York City. And the reason this was the first tour stop was we also had press that day. So on that day we did the Sherri Shepherd Show, which if you caught that episode, it was so fun. And if you missed it, it’s on Instagram now. But we did the Sherri Shepherd show and it was just a bundle of laughs and I shared my five tips to live boldly. Really great, definite must watch. We also did, CBS Morning with Gayle King, who as you all know, Gayle is Oprah’s on paper best friend, like historical record. But we also know if you’ve kept up with me on Instagram my relationship with Oprah. And you know, I fondly call her bread fan. If you are new around here, please head over there. You’ve got to catch up. This is a years long thing. But you know Oprah was not present in that interview for many reasons. If you watch it, I know some of you right now are cackling in the car. Because you know about the Oprah thing and the joke.

But needless to say we had an interview with Gayle and that was incredible. And it was so so fun. Both our offline conversation and our on screen conversation. But after all of that, I got to do the real fun which was, we headed over to Barnes and Noble Tribeca. And I got to sit with my dear incredible, great friend Seth Godin, who is, you know, multiple, like, he’s like 18 Times New York Times bestseller like I mean, he’s Jay Z’s favorite marketer, right? Like he is just a genius in this industry and, and he was just so generous. He entertained, you know, and educated and just absolutely helped me bring the best out and I couldn’t have felt safer chatting with him in front of all of you. And I was so grateful to have him in front of all of you too, because I wanted you to meet them, you know, if you didn’t already know him, but he got to meet all of you.

And when I say what a special night this was, first and foremost, I’m going to skip to the end to tell you a little bit how it went, we shut that place down. I have never been in a Barnes and Noble until after closing, we shut that place down. They were literally pulling the grates down behind us. And, and it was just beyond because one of the things that happened there that everyone was remarking on that they said is unique to us, right? This is just a Nicole Walters podcast, crew, internet, aunties, you know, internet besties it is just us. Typically, whenever fancy pants people, which clearly we’re not fancy pants, fancy pants, people do these events. Usually you won’t see the people in attendance talking to each other. It’ll usually be that they come to these events, you know, to kind of like shine a light on the person on stage, then they grab their books and they go and that’s not a community, right? They might be fans, you know, they might be people who are like, you know, a big readers if you will, but oh no, they were not ready on every single one of our stops, starting with New York City was literally like a meet and greet reunion hanging out, best friends eating cheese.

I literally got gifts of cheese on this tour. I spent every single evening eating cheese because not only do you understand me, but you love me. Okay, it was so good. So at New York City, you know, at every stop, I got to see you. I got to meet some of my internet nieces and nephews, which was incredible. You know, catch up with you, see how you’re doing, give you hugs in person, we had T shirts, and we had signs and we had, I mean, it literally was just like, the phrase that I use often. And that I’ve said on this tour, so many times about how wonderful it was, was, there’s one word that struck me when I walked into that room, every single room. And it was finally, finally, we get to be together.

Finally, we get to just take everything off and get real, the conversations we had in that room. Some of them echoed what was in the book, but a lot of them were just us talking about what we’ve been through and seeing the journey and giving thanks and being grateful. And so many of you are sharing so openly and vulnerably you know, what you’d experience, what brought us together. You know, and there were times where I would say in the room, you know, how many of us have talked before whether it was in real life or over the DMs or you know, on an impromptu phone call or whatever. When I tell you, every single time every hand would go up in that room, you know, it just reminded me that at the very beginning of this business building journey, when I quit my nine to five job almost 10 years ago, and decided I was going to say yes to my purpose. One of the things that was said to me by many mentors was, this isn’t sustainable, that you should not try to connect with people, you know, so personally. That being able to chat with people in the DMs and it’s true, y’all I’m gonna be very clear. I overcommit myself, I’m the type of person who is like, and some of y’all are nodding your heads because you’re like this too, which is why we get each other. But I will try to do all the things for all the people and be everywhere. And I am absolutely terrible about it, and I have to work on it. But when I tell you, I try to answer every comment and every DM and I get over 200 a day and I mean, I am in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in between meetings, in the elevator, you know waiting in line trying to chat and connect and talk to you and answer your questions and checking on babies and checking on test results and checking on college and checking on school and because I want to know how you’re doing and you guys do the same for me. I just want to say that too is like you guys are checking in on me too.

And it’s just been so nice, because when I walked into that room and I said finally, you know, it wasn’t just words on a screen, you know, or in an email or in a letter or note card. It was a face and the voice and warmth of a hug and littles that I’ve literally known from being carried, from being a thought, you know, to ages five and six and in school, and though I’m really trying not to lose it, it’s because the babies get me every time, you know. But when I tell you it was, I was like, I could exhale finally, because I was like, oh, we’re together.

And then seeing all of you chat with each other, you know about your check ins and your relationships and and find out that you guys have been having conversations externally, you know, that you are like, oh, yeah, we’ve always been in New York, it’s our first time getting together, and we’re going to dinner together after this. And it was just a dream. It was just a dream. And I’m here to let you know, the news. You know, because it is big news. You know, and one of the beautiful things about it is because it’s such big news, it also lets us know what we can do, and what is possible in the future but aside from it being big news, I’m also here to say thank you, you know, I’m here to say thank you.

And the thank you is because it hasn’t always been like this. You know, and I know that so many of you know this, but life looks so different now. It was so hard in the beginning. The person I was is not the person I am for so many reasons. I remember carrying a latent anger and sadness and heaviness, you know, and I’ve had to make so many changes in my life, as I worked hard and hustled and still try to show up and accomplish things and live a purposeful life and also prioritize my babies. And I think a lot of us can all relate to what it looks like. And I’m so grateful that the person I am now, what 15 years into entrepreneurship, is not who I was, in my first three years. It’s not who I wasn’t my first five years, heck, I’m not the person I was, four or five years ago, you know, when this divorce situation, you know, came into the mix.

And I just want to let you know that you’re entitled to change, and that you deserve growth. And you deserve to be loved. And you deserve to enter rooms of people who love you, and you deserve to enter them often. And all the work is worth it. You know, as long as it is work that is leading you in a forward moving way towards living even more in your truth than ever before. And you heard me talk about this at the top of the year. And if you’re new to this, I really encourage you to go back because being on the other side of this book journey, you heard me talk about the fear that I had, and what it would look like to share what I’ve shared. And, you know, even though I’m, you know, one of the words is often used as oh, she’s so vulnerable and authentic. And, you know, she was just so honest and truthful. And we’re all y’all like this book is 320 pages, it’s not everything. That’s like a page for a month of my life, right? So it’s not comprehensive. But you better believe I tried to keep it as forthright as I could, about what I knew when I did.

But it’s also my hope that in five years, I can add to this book or I can add to your life or that I have even more to share about the season I’m in right now. And it’s also my hope that when we meet again, with the next book, or the next moment or the next meet and greet or heck even when I come to meet and sign this book in person in your town because I am going to make it to Florida and I’m gonna make it to Northern California. And we’re gonna keep having these moments. And it’s my hope though, that the next time I see you, the way that you showed up this time that I’m able to tell you thank you in person and how much I deeply love and care about you. But also that in addition to finally, I can also say look at us. Look at how we’ve grown. Look at how we’ve changed. But let’s also honor the fact that even with all that growth change that nothing is missing. Thank you friend for the support. Nothing is Missing is available everywhere books are sold.