Lauren Eckhardt is the CEO and Founder of Burning Soul Press. An award-winning, and best-selling author and ghostwriter, she is passionate about helping impact-driven writers capture their life stories in a book. Lauren founded Burning Soul Press in 2020, after 12 years in the human resources field, to work with aspiring and career authors in pursuit of sharing a powerful and deeply impactful story or message. When she's not helping writers launch their author careers, she's reading, writing, and trying her hand at various creative outlets.

Can you tell our readers about your background? 

A book nerd through and through, I knew since I was six years old that I wanted to be an author someday. Constantly reading and writing, whether stories, poems, or songs, was my outlet. As I got older, I struggled to share that side of me freely, buying into the starving artist belief, and eventually tucked it away to pursue more of the expected life path. I’ve always loved learning new things so took on different jobs and industries to expand my knowledge and skills. I spent 12 years in the human resources field, chasing degrees, certifications, and promotions, always successful, but never fulfilled. I kept going for what I was supposed to have to elevate myself versus the things that actually felt purposeful. After years of feeling restless and not quite myself in the corporate world, I eventually left once my first child was born. I could no longer pretend I cared about stuff that didn’t matter to me. I had to step back into who I truly was to be the best I could be for my kids. 

What inspired you to start your business? 

My boys were born exactly two and a half years apart and a lot changed within that period, most notably was my lens on my life and the world. I knew I wanted them to have big dreams and not let anything get in their way of reaching them. But you can tell someone something with little success or set the example through actions. Wanting that for them was the final push for me to go after everything I dreamed about for my own life. I wrote and published my first book which had been a work in progress for a decade and immediately followed it up with four others within a short time. Once I became an author, other people asked for my help to write and publish their books. Every time I helped someone, my soul was lit on fire, and a new dream emerged: helping people share their stories and overcome the challenge of writing about their own personal journey and struggles.

Ever since I was a young girl, random strangers would open up to me, telling me about their life. That never changed. I’ve always been a safe space for people to be themselves. It wasn’t until I started Burning Soul Press that I realized there was a reason behind it. My entire life had been preparing me for this. I started Burning Soul Press in April 2020 as a one-woman show and within months, it quickly grew to a six-figure company with an amazing team that supports all of our global clients in helping them reach their author goals. Now we’re on track to becoming a seven-figure company in 2021. It's been an amazing experience exploring new dreams and goals that have come into my path and I now lead a life I couldn't have imagined a year ago.

Where is your business based?

Burning Soul Press is 100% virtual due to the pandemic, but we may eventually put down roots and open up a writing retreat center. For now, our employees work throughout the United States and our clients are global. 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

I first tested the waters to make sure people were willing to pay for what I could help them with, and once my first few paying clients were secured, I made it all official with the LLC paperwork, a website, and social media accounts. We’ve been fortunate to grow with just word of mouth over the past year, so it was just telling people what we’re doing and utilizing the power of connections to reach the right clients.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business? 

Connecting with people. Networking is huge and if it can happen during a pandemic successfully, it’s proven that it’s a timeless technique. I always take the time to meet with people because you never know who they know or what ideas they generate from hearing about our mission. The ease of sharing posts and information through social media has also been a huge advantage for raising awareness. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them? 

The biggest challenges have arisen every time we start to drift away from our original values. It’s easy to get caught up in the snowball of growth or start to move away from the core of your business when you see the potential for new opportunities. There have been a lot of new ideas we’ve come up with and have been quick to implement because of the excitement, only to realize (after we’ve already invested a lot of time and money) that they don’t align with our core values. Every time it’s happened, I’m just very honest with my team about it and we simply reset what we need, even if it means swallowing our pride, making tough decisions, or losing money and time. Every risk we take and choice we make is an opportunity for learning, so it’s just keeping that in the forefront of our minds and as we keep moving forward. 

How do you stay focused?

Focusing on moving the needle ahead one step at a time instead of consuming the entire pie all at once. This is something that I admittedly struggle with because I like to devour what I can. But when I focus on the chunks in the order that they come instead of only moving on the ones that excite me and that’s it, it helps me complete projects faster and not feel like I have a million irons in the fire

How do you differentiate your business from the competition? 

We operate from a more intrinsic motivation standpoint—for both us as a company and for our authors. There are many other companies offering what we’re offering just like there are many other authors writing books. However, we focus on the long-term fulfillment and satisfaction of a lifelong goal. It’s not about writing a book fast or getting someone’s name on the cover of a book or simply owning the title of being an author—it’s about truly writing a book with a message and story that they are proud to have last long after their time on earth is finished. We help people fulfill their purpose and we care about their journey to reach that just about as much as they do. We support the author not because that’s what we’re getting paid to do, but because we’re fans of the incredible journey they’re dedicating themselves to.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? 

Celebrating our authors. We focus more on what our authors are doing than what we’re doing and that naturally draws in people who are like them or doing similar cool things as they are. They’re not just writing a book, they’re making a huge impact in this world and we love showcasing that. 

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

Own yourself. Own your dreams. Own your quirks. Own your strengths. I wish I didn’t try so hard to fit in the boxes I thought I should fill through most of life, whether boxes determined by schooling, socially or by the corporate world. Many times I felt awkward, but I wished I realized it wasn’t because I was awkward, but because those boxes are awkward. Many systems early in life try to contain you to a heightened sense of average instead of allowing you to embrace your strengths and talents and soar in the unique areas you were meant to rise in. A part of me always knew that, but it takes independence in who you are regardless of the circumstances around you to fully embrace it.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favorite app is Slack because it allows my team to communicate effectively while keeping our conversations fairly organized and easily searchable. My favorite business-related book is Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas. It’s a reminder to not let work drive your life but to focus on life and the work you can do to help other people. When I start feeling like I’m drowning in work, I go back to that book to reset my focus.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Clickup is my favorite tool because it helps me and my entire team stay on track. I use it to keep track of my personal to-do list as well, but my favorite part is the professional custom templates that my team can share as clients are working through the pipeline from writing to publishing. It helps us stay organized and set clear dates for when things are due.  

Who is your business role model? Why? 

I love the teachings of James Wedmore. His growth as an entrepreneur is inspiring and he operates from the whole mind, heart, and soul behind running a business and not just business or financial modeling. He’s very honest about his mistakes and humble about his successes, always taking time to help people regardless of whether they invest in him.

How do you balance work and life? 

Truthfully, I don’t really balance anything. When I try, I fail. I blend it all. Who I am as a mom, wife, and friend is the same person that I am as an entrepreneur and CEO. My kids are right next to me as I do things with my company. I’ll cook dinner while I’m talking with clients. It’s simply remembering that we have 24 hours in a day every single day and every hour may be dedicated to a different realm to life. It doesn’t mean 8-5 has to be dedicated to working. Flexing based on priorities as things change every day and being okay with that is the key for me. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress? 

Browsing a used book sale or bookstores. There’s no such thing as too many books and being surrounded by them is incredibly peaceful. 

What do you have planned for the next six months? 

We have some incredible books being released over the next six months so will be working closely with our authors to help them launch and celebrate! We are also making big changes to our core program, The Soul Writer Journey, and I’m writing a book based on the framework for it. We’ve also added a Children’s publishing division, partnering with some hugely talented illustrators, and will be offering upcoming workshops to help people write their stories. 

How can our readers connect with you?

You can send us a message at hello@burningsoulpress.com or visit any of our sites: 

Website: www.burningsoulpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burningsoulpress 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/68302732/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLAn5XIVMkqPKnjR8mc4RVQ/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/burningsoulpress/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BSPSoulWriter